Chapter 3
Rafe returned with a list.
One guard did not belong.
Elias Ward.
Thirty-eight.
Former Avellino security.
Dismissed two years ago after refusing an order from Owen.
I remembered the incident vaguely.
Owen claimed Elias abandoned a post.
Elias claimed the order endangered civilians.
I sided with Owen.
That now bothered me.
“Where is he?”
“Gone.”
Of course.
He left five minutes before I entered the conservatory.
Rafe found his temporary badge in a trash bin near the garden exit.
Someone had let him into the estate under another employee’s identification.
“Who?”
No answer yet.
I looked at Celeste.
“You were terrified Maya saw Elias.”
She flinched.
There.
Not just any guard.
Elias.
“He knows about the red book.”
Owen said nothing.
I walked toward him.
“Does he have it?”
“No.”
Too fast.
Then Celeste snapped:
“He photographed it.”
Silence.
Owen turned toward her.
She realized too late.
Good.
“When?”
I asked.
Celeste looked away.
Three weeks earlier.
Elias had entered one of their private meetings disguised as contracted security.
He photographed pages from my father’s ledger.
Pages showing every diverted payment.
Every recipient.
Every intermediary.
And one final list.
Seven names under the heading:
CONTINUITY.
I knew what that meant.
Old families love polite words for ugly plans.
“Who are the seven?”
Celeste laughed.
“You think I memorized everything?”
“Yes.”
She hated that I was right.
Owen spoke.
“Victor, this family is larger than you.”
“There it is.”
I smiled slightly.
The philosophy beneath the theft.
The organization belonged to tradition.
Not the living boss.
Not the families receiving aid.
Not the people carrying consequences.
Tradition.
Maya moved closer to me with Sadie still in her arms.
“Why succession?”
I looked at my cousins.
Neither answered.
Rafe did.
He had found one message in Owen’s phone.
A scheduled dinner for six older capos.
Tomorrow night.
Topic:
POST-VICTOR STRUCTURE.
Maya stopped breathing.
So did I.
Not murder.
Maybe.
Not yet.
But definitely a future planned without me.
I looked at Celeste.
“Were you stealing from my family programs to fund the men you expect to replace me?”
Her silence answered.
Then Sadie whispered:
“Daddy?”
I turned.
May you like
“Are they making you go away?”
That question changed the room.
