Chapter 4 - THE FAMILY VOTE
The Moretti family council had never been about democracy.
My grandfather created it because he believed powerful men became stupid when nobody could tell them no.
Five chairs.
One for me.
One for Gabriel.
One for our uncle Salvatore.
Two for senior captains who had been with the family longer than either brother had been alive.
A majority could temporarily remove a boss if he was mentally or physically incapable of command.
It had happened once in seventy years.
Gabriel intended to make me the second.
At 7:00 the next evening, I entered the library three minutes late.
Deliberately.
Gabriel was seated.
So was Uncle Salvatore.
Frank Costa and Anthony Bellini occupied the final chairs.
Dr. Antonelli stood near the fireplace carrying a leather folder.
I nearly laughed.
The fox had brought his veterinarian.
“Dante,” Gabriel said. “Sit.”
My own brother telling me to sit in my own house.
Interesting.
I lowered myself into the empty chair.
“What is this?”
Gabriel looked pained.
“We need to talk.”
“People usually say that immediately before saying something they’ve rehearsed.”
Uncle Salvatore frowned.
“This isn’t a joke.”
“No. I imagine it isn’t.”
Dr. Antonelli opened his folder.
“For the past three years, Dante has suffered severe chronic insomnia.”
“Thank God you came,” I said. “I’d forgotten.”
Gabriel gave me a warning look.
Antonelli continued.
“In recent months we have observed increased irritability, impaired concentration, memory lapses, and potentially reckless judgment.”
“Observed by whom?”
“People close to you.”
“Names.”
Gabriel leaned forward.
“This is exactly what we mean.”
“What? Asking questions?”
“Turning everything into a threat.”
I looked around the room.
Frank Costa would not meet my eyes.
Anthony Bellini looked miserable.
Uncle Salvatore looked angry.
Not at me.
At the situation.
Gabriel had chosen his battlefield carefully.
Then he placed a document on the table.
Temporary transfer of executive authority.
Ninety days.
To Gabriel Moretti.
There it was.
Not concern.
A crown with legal language around it.
“You already drafted the papers,” I said.
Gabriel’s face remained calm.
“Because somebody had to prepare.”
“How thoughtful.”
“Dante.”
His voice cracked just enough to sound emotional.
“You’re my brother.”
That almost made me lose control.
Instead, I leaned back.
“And you believe I’m unfit.”
“I believe you’re sick.”
“Those are different words.”
“They may have the same result.”
Silence.
Then Uncle Salvatore spoke.
“Dante, when did you last sleep more than two hours?”
Everyone watched me.
I thought of Lily.
Thirty-three minutes.
Her tiny hand around my finger.
The first real sleep I had experienced since Isabella died.
“Three years ago,” I said.
Gabriel exhaled as though devastated.
Then the library door opened.
Sophia stood there.
She looked horrified.
“I’m sorry.”
Gabriel turned sharply.
“This is a private meeting.”
“I know.”
She looked at me.
“Mr. Moretti, security says they found something in my room.”
My stomach tightened.
“What?”
Gabriel stood.
“Perhaps this can wait.”
“No,” I said. “Bring it.”
Two guards entered behind Sophia.
One carried a jewelry box.
My mother’s jewelry box.
The one kept in a locked safe upstairs.
He opened it.
Empty.
“Where did you find that?”
The guard hesitated.
“Under Mrs. Carter’s bed.”
Sophia’s face went white.
“I have never seen that box.”
Gabriel stared at her.
Then at me.
“Dante.”
“Don’t.”
“Your employee was found with two hundred thousand dollars in jewelry.”
“No jewelry,” I said.
“What?”
“You said she was found with jewelry.”
I looked at the guard.
“You found a box.”
He swallowed.
“Yes.”
“Empty.”
“Yes.”
Gabriel’s eyes flickered.
Tiny mistake.
He had said two hundred thousand dollars before anyone had identified what was supposedly missing.
I stored that away.
Sophia understood too.
I could see it in her face.
Gabriel moved toward her.
“This woman has access to your bedroom, your office, your food.”
There it was.
A perfect pivot.
Not just a thief.
A suspect.
“She could have been doing anything.”
Sophia looked at me.
Fear filled her eyes.
Not because she thought I believed Gabriel.
Because she understood what I had to do next.
I stood.
“Pack your things.”
The room went silent.
Sophia stared at me.
I forced myself not to soften.
“You’re fired.”
Her lips parted.
“Mr. Moretti.”
“Tonight.”
Lily’s face appeared in my mind.
Lion pajamas.
The rabbit.
I made my voice colder.
“You and your daughter are off this property within one hour.”
Gabriel relaxed.
That was why I did it.
Sophia’s eyes shimmered.
For one second, I thought she might not understand.
Then she lowered her gaze.
“Yes, sir.”
She walked out.
Every instinct I possessed screamed to follow her.
I stayed.
Gabriel placed a hand on my shoulder.
“You did the right thing.”
I looked at his hand until he removed it.
“Did I?”
“She had access.”
“So do you.”
His smile disappeared.
Uncle Salvatore cleared his throat.
“We finish the vote.”
I sat.
Frank voted yes.
Anthony voted no.
Salvatore abstained.
Gabriel voted yes.
Two votes to remove me.
One against.
One abstention.
Then everyone looked at me.
The boss did not normally vote on his own removal unless the council tied.
Gabriel needed Salvatore.
He turned toward our uncle.
“Sal.”
The older man rubbed his face.
“I need until tomorrow.”
Gabriel’s irritation showed for the first time.
“This cannot wait.”
“It can wait twenty-four hours.”
He looked at me.
“Dante?”
I lowered my eyes as though I were defeated.
“Tomorrow.”
The meeting ended.
Gabriel left angry.
Exactly as I wanted.
At 9:20, Sophia drove out through the north gate with Lily strapped into the back seat.
She never looked toward the house.
At 9:42, Gabriel made a phone call from the west terrace.
Kane’s people were already listening.
At 9:44, my phone received a transcript.
She’s gone.
A man answered.
And the child?
With her.
Should we recover them?
Gabriel paused.
Then said the sentence that removed every last fragment of doubt from my mind.
Before Dante figures out what she heard.
I was already moving when Kane called.
“Don’t do anything stupid.”
“Define stupid.”
“Anything you normally do.”
I grabbed my coat.
“Sophia was supposed to drive to the safe apartment.”
“She never arrived.”
I stopped.
“What?”
“We lost her car six blocks from the estate.”
My blood turned cold.
“How?”
“Traffic camera went dark for eleven minutes.”
Gabriel had anticipated me.
I called Sophia.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Then a message appeared.
Not from Sophia.
From her phone.
A photograph.
Lily’s gray rabbit lay in the middle of a wet street.
Under it were six words.
Stop digging, or she loses more.
I stared at Bernard.
Three years of rage had lived inside me.
Three years of grief.
Three years of wanting someone to blame for what had happened to Isabella and our child.
None of it compared to what I felt in that moment.
Because Gabriel had made one catastrophic mistake.
He believed Lily was leverage.
May you like
He believed taking her would make me weak.
He had no idea that for the first time in three years, I had something worth staying alive for.
