Chapter 4
The person was Daniel Frost.
Event security coordinator.
Not one of my inner men.
But trusted enough to control guest movement.
The footage showed him repositioning three senior captains closer to the bride’s table fifteen minutes before dessert.
When I confronted him, he looked angry rather than afraid.
Useful.
Anger talks.
“I didn’t know Warren put anything in her food.”
I believed him.
Partly.
“What did you know?”
“Mrs. Pike said Sofia might embarrass herself.”
“Why?”
“She said there had been concerns.”
“What concerns?”
Daniel hesitated.
“Drinking.”
There.
False narrative prepared before the event.
“Had you ever seen Sofia drunk?”
“No.”
“Had anyone?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then why move three capos closer?”
He looked ashamed.
“Because Mrs. Pike said Lorenzo needed witnesses if something happened.”
Witnesses.
The word repeated itself inside my head.
Ruby had witnessed Warren.
Warren wanted witnesses against Sofia.
Everyone in the scheme understood the value of being seen.
“What did Beatrice promise you?”
“Nothing.”
I stared.
“Daniel.”
His jaw tightened.
“A permanent security contract for the Pike route.”
There.
Not conspiracy.
Self-interest.
Beatrice did not need true believers.
She needed people whose ambitions aligned for one evening.
Daniel would gain a contract.
Warren would preserve family influence.
Beatrice would preserve the Pike branch.
And Sofia would become unstable in front of exactly the men whose opinions mattered.
I removed Daniel from event security immediately.
He did not argue.
Then I asked:
“Did Lorenzo know anything?”
Daniel looked genuinely shocked.
“No.”
Good.
My son was not part of it.
“What about Clara?”
“Nothing.”
“Ruby?”
He looked ashamed.
“She wasn’t supposed to be near the serving table.”
Exactly.
Ruby was not part of the plan.
May you like
She was the accident.
And Warren’s reaction to that accident exposed everything.
