Chapter 13
Vittorio went to the river house alone.
At least that was what Silas believed.
The old building sat above dark water.
One light in the upper window.
Vittorio carried the red map tube in one hand.
The south-route handle hidden beneath his coat.
He entered.
Lucy sat on a sofa.
Blanket around her.
Not injured.
Paul Neri stood behind her.
Silas stood near the fireplace.
Older than Vittorio remembered from childhood photographs.
Same eyes.
Same Romano jaw.
“Uncle.”
Silas smiled.
“Nephew.”
Lucy saw Vittorio.
“Daddy.”
He looked at her.
“Hi, baby.”
She started crying.
Silas looked irritated.
“Children.”
Vittorio’s face hardened.
Silas continued.
“So emotional.”
Then:
“Bianca really failed to train her.”
Lucy flinched.
Vittorio noticed.
Silas did too.
He smiled.
There.
He had touched the same wound.
Vittorio said:
“Let her go.”
“Open the south.”
“No.”
Lucy looked at him.
Silas smiled.
“See?”
Then to Lucy:
“Daddy chooses his route.”
Vittorio’s expression changed.
Silas continued cruelly:
“Maybe Bianca was right.”
“Maybe little girls who don’t obey become inconvenient.”
Lucy’s face crumpled.
Vittorio’s voice dropped.
“Speak to me.”
Silas raised an eyebrow.
“Sensitive.”
“No.”
“Focused.”
Silas laughed.
“Your father would be ashamed.”
Vittorio walked closer.
“My father is dead.”
“And?”
“He doesn't vote.”
Silas’s smile thinned.
Good.
Vittorio placed the red tube down.
“You want the south.”
“Yes.”
“You want war.”
“I want Romano restored.”
“You want your childhood grievance fed.”
Silas’s eyes hardened.
There.
Vittorio continued.
“You waited twelve years because nobody followed you openly.”
Silence.
“So you found Caleb.”
“Fed his hunger for war.”
“Found Marcus.”
“Fed his envy.”
“Found Bianca.”
“Fed her resentment toward a child.”
Silas’s face changed.
Vittorio stepped closer.
“You don’t build loyalty.”
“You collect weaknesses.”
Silas smiled.
“That is loyalty.”
“No.”
“That is blackmail with better clothes.”
Lucy looked at her father.
Even frightened, she listened.
Silas said:
“Open the south.”
Vittorio reached inside his coat.
Produced the control handle.
Silas’s face lit.
There.
He wanted it more than Lucy.
That told Vittorio everything.
“You found it.”
“Yes.”
“Give it to me.”
“Release her.”
Silas looked at Paul.
Paul pulled Lucy’s wheelchair backward.
The child screamed.
Vittorio’s expression stayed calm.
Silas smiled.
“Now you understand.”
Vittorio looked toward the window.
Then back.
“No.”
Silas frowned.
“You still don't.”
The lights outside suddenly came on.
River road.
Dock.
North slope.
Dozens.
Romano cars.
Not rushing.
Already there.
Silas stared.
Vittorio continued:
“Caleb told me you needed six minutes.”
Silence.
“I needed three hours.”
Silas’s face changed.
Vittorio smiled faintly.
“To find every man who still answers your phone.”
Outside, headlights surrounded the river house.
May you like
Silas had spent twelve years building a hidden network.
Vittorio had spent one afternoon making it visible.
