Chapter 7
I brought Elias back to the estate.
Celeste called him a traitor.
He laughed.
“You stole from widows.”
She slapped the table.
“We kept men fed.”
“Men who had crews.”
“Men Victor discarded.”
I watched them.
Two moral systems.
Celeste believed loyalty to old fighters outranked support for families left behind.
Elias believed the opposite.
I had already chosen years ago.
That was why this existed.
Owen turned toward me.
“Your father took care of his men.”
“So do I.”
“No. You take care of dependents.”
I stared.
The contempt in one word.
Dependents.
Widows.
Children.
Injured associates.
Families without powerful men attached.
To Owen, support spent there produced no leverage.
Money given to captains returned loyalty.
Money given to vulnerable people returned gratitude at best.
That was his mathematics.
I finally understood the theft completely.
It was not greed.
It was political spending.
Celeste had diverted aid into patronage.
Every dollar purchased a future vote.
Every funded old capo became part of the post-Victor structure.
Then Maya said:
“And Sadie becomes the excuse.”
Owen looked at her.
She continued.
“You don’t need her to lead. You need everyone to believe you’re protecting her inheritance.”
Silence.
Celeste’s eyes changed.
Maya had found the center.
A child creates moral cover.
Nobody wants to look like the person opposing “protection of the heir.”
I almost smiled.
Until I remembered the candle.
My daughter had been forced to hold a flame near her mother because Celeste wanted one guard’s identity.
That was what their protection looked like.
I turned to Elias.
“What else?”
He looked at me.
“Your wife’s name is in the book.”
Maya stopped.
“What?”
I took the phone.
One page.
MAYA AVELLINO — REMOVE FROM INFLUENCE BEFORE TRANSITION.
My entire body went cold.
Not kill.
Again.
Isolation.
Discredit.
Send away.
Divorce.
Anything.
May you like
My wife was not merely collateral.
She had been designated obstacle.
