Chapter 5
The name was Anthony Vale.
My deputy security coordinator.
Thirty-eight.
Quiet.
Efficient.
Invisible in the way useful men often become.
He had worked for me eleven years.
That made betrayal easier.
Not harder.
I summoned him.
He entered the room and saw Elena.
Everything in his face collapsed.
No denial needed.
“How long?”
I asked.
Anthony said nothing.
“How long have you been helping Silas?”
“Three years.”
Before Elena disappeared.
Interesting.
“For money?”
“No.”
“Then?”
He looked at me.
“Because I thought he was right.”
Better.
Conviction is more dangerous than bribery.
“About what?”
“That Rossi had become one man’s organization.”
Mine.
There it was again.
Centralization.
Not entirely false.
My father ran Rossi through a loose network.
I tightened it after his death because loose networks had nearly torn us apart.
Some men called that stability.
Others called it control.
Silas built his faction inside that resentment.
Anthony continued.
“He said Micah would restore balance one day.”
I looked toward my nephew.
He stood in the doorway listening.
I had told him he could leave.
He refused.
“You asked him?” I said.
Anthony went silent.
“Did you ever ask Micah if he wanted this future?”
No.
Of course not.
Micah stepped forward.
“You told people I was going to replace Uncle Gianni?”
Anthony looked ashamed.
“Eventually.”
“I wanted to box.”
The simplicity of it destroyed the room.
Not command.
Not territory.
Boxing.
Sixteen-year-old priorities.
Anthony looked down.
Micah continued.
“My mom disappeared and you used me?”
Silence.
That was the crime stripped of politics.
Silas had turned grief into recruitment.
Anthony had called it balance.
I removed him from security immediately.
No beating.
No dramatic disappearance.
His access ended.
That was enough for now.
Then Micah looked at me.
“Were they right?”
I frowned.
“About what?”
“You controlling too much.”
Hard question.
Especially from the boy they weaponized.
“Maybe.”
Silas looked almost pleased from across the room.
I continued.
“That doesn’t make what they did to you right.”
His smile disappeared.
Good.
May you like
Two truths could survive together.
That would become important.
