Chapter 11
Elena did not want Silas killed.
That surprised me.
“You think I planned to?”
She raised one eyebrow.
Fair.
Our family reputation did not come from restraint.
“Why?”
I asked.
“Because Micah has to live with what happened.”
I listened.
“If you turn Silas into a martyr, half the family will remember the old good things and argue about whether punishment was too much.”
True.
“If he stays alive without access, everyone has to look at what he actually did.”
Better.
Silas lost every Rossi role.
No waterfront authority.
No event access.
No contact with Nora.
No unsupervised contact with Micah.
No men under his command inside our organization.
His wealth remained partly his.
His name remained his.
But borrowed Rossi authority disappeared.
He hated that more than a beating.
“You’re making me nothing.”
I looked at him.
“No.”
“You took everything.”
“No.”
I stepped closer.
“I removed what belonged to the family.”
Silence.
“What remains is yours.”
That frightened him.
Because without title, access, captains, and proximity, he had to discover how much of himself existed beneath ambition.
Wade was removed completely from Rossi operations.
Anthony too.
Different reasons.
Same result.
Doors closed.
May you like
Not graves.
I had begun understanding that power can punish by refusing to keep lending itself.
