Chapter 10
Silas did not sound like a ghost.
He sounded amused.
“Long morning?”
Vittorio stared toward the window.
“Where are you?”
“You know.”
“River house.”
“Good.”
Silas laughed.
“You always were brighter than your father.”
Vittorio said nothing.
Silas continued.
“I heard Lucy is safe.”
That bothered Vittorio.
Real-time information.
Someone inside still reporting.
“Who told you?”
Silas ignored it.
“Bring the red map.”
“No.”
“Bring Marcus.”
“No.”
“Bianca?”
“No.”
Silas laughed.
“You learned boundaries.”
Vittorio’s expression hardened.
“What do you want?”
“I already told Caleb.”
“I’m asking you.”
Pause.
Then:
“Open the south route.”
“No.”
Silas almost sounded disappointed.
“Too quick.”
“No.”
“Your father made the same mistake.”
“My father made many.”
Silas’s tone changed.
Interesting.
He expected Vittorio to defend him.
Vittorio continued:
“But closing a war corridor wasn’t one.”
Silas laughed.
“You sound civilized.”
“Is that an insult?”
“To a Romano?”
“Yes.”
There it was.
Identity as violence.
Silas continued.
“You think your daughter will inherit respect because you serve her breakfast?”
Vittorio’s eyes hardened.
“She will inherit nothing she doesn’t choose.”
Silence.
That answer upset Silas more than refusal.
“Choice.”
He spat the word.
“Children don’t choose blood.”
“No.”
“But adults choose what blood means.”
Silas became quiet.
Then:
“Come to the river house.”
“No.”
“I have something you want.”
Vittorio looked at Caleb.
“What?”
“Proof your father lied about my death.”
Vittorio almost smiled.
“Keep it.”
Silas paused.
Not expected.
Vittorio continued.
“I already know you’re alive.”
Silas’s voice hardened.
“You should want to know why.”
“I will.”
“But not on your timetable.”
Silence.
Then Silas said:
“You think this ends because you found two men in a garage?”
Vittorio looked toward Thomas.
“Who else is inside my house?”
Silas laughed.
Finally.
“That’s the right question.”
The call ended.
Vittorio immediately turned.
“Lock internal doors.”
“Face check every guard.”
“No pins.”
“No uniforms.”
“Faces.”
Caleb smiled.
“You’re nervous.”
Vittorio looked at him.
“No.”
“I’m correcting trust.”
Thomas returned fifteen minutes later.
One guard missing.
Paul Neri.
Nine years in Romano security.
Assigned to the nursery floor.
Vittorio’s face changed.
He ran upstairs.
Lucy’s room—
empty.
Emma unconscious beside the door.
Window open.
A child’s cardigan on the floor.
Bianca screamed from downstairs.
Not Lucy.
Bianca.
May you like
Because she finally understood.
Silas had taken the child anyway.
