Chapter 10
Evelyn chose a roadside diner.
Public enough to feel safe.
Ordinary enough to insult every Valenti instinct.
Perfect.
I went alone.
No guards inside.
Rafe waited two blocks away because compromise exists.
Evelyn entered wearing jeans and a green jacket.
No diamonds.
No signet.
No fear.
Matteo’s eyes.
My mother’s stubborn chin.
I stood.
She did not hug me.
Good.
We sat.
For five minutes, neither of us knew what to say.
Then she asked:
“Did you really punch Gavin through a portrait wall?”
I laughed.
“Backdrop.”
“Less impressive.”
We both smiled.
Something loosened.
Then she placed a red notebook on the table.
Not the original CHILDREN ledger.
Matteo’s copy.
“He told me never to give this to anyone who said it belonged to the family.”
“That sounds like him.”
“He said it belonged to the people whose lives are inside it.”
Better.
I did not reach for it.
She noticed.
“Lorraine tried.”
“I know.”
“She offered me a house.”
“I know.”
“She said Dad stole me from my heritage.”
I closed my eyes.
“And?”
“I told her people aren’t heirlooms.”
Definitely Matteo’s daughter.
Evelyn asked about Maisie.
I showed her one photograph.
No injury.
Before.
Not the swollen eye.
She did not need that.
“She’s four?”
“Yes.”
“Lorraine hit her?”
“No.”
“Then what happened?”
I told her.
Gavin grabbed.
Maisie fell.
Lorraine covered it.
Tried to erase Adrian’s images.
Evelyn looked at the red notebook.
“Same pattern.”
“Yes.”
She finally pushed it toward me.
Not giving.
Showing.
One name had been marked by Matteo years ago.
ROMAN — IF THEY EVER TRY WITH HIS CHILD, TELL HIM EVERYTHING.
I stared.
My brother had thought about a child I did not yet have.
Maybe because once you escape a system, you see how it reproduces.
Evelyn closed the notebook.
“You can know what’s in here.”
I nodded.
“But you don’t keep it.”
“Agreed.”
She studied me.
Then asked:
“What happens to Lorraine?”
“I don’t know yet.”
May you like
Good.
Because for once, family consequence would not be decided before truth finished speaking.
