Chapter 2 - The Key in Lily’s Hand)
Lily began crying before Serafina even asked the question.
“I didn’t steal it.”
“I know.”
“Grandpa put it in my coat.”
“When?”
“At school.”
Serafina stared at her.
“Victor went to your school?”
Lily nodded.
“He was waiting when we came outside for recess. He told Mrs. Hanley he was picking me up for a dentist appointment.”
Serafina’s anger sharpened into something colder.
Victor knew the school’s procedures.
He knew the names of Lily’s teachers.
He knew exactly what explanation would get him through the front office.
“What did he say to you?”
“He told me to bring the key here and leave it in Grandpa Lorenzo’s office.”
“Anything else?”
“He said if I didn’t, Ethan might have another accident.”
Matteo turned away.
It was a small movement, but Serafina knew why he did it.
Matteo had served violent men most of his adult life.
Threatening a child still disgusted him.
Serafina knelt in front of Lily.
“Look at me.”
Lily did.
“Victor cannot hurt Ethan because you disobey him. Do you understand?”
“But he grabbed Ethan.”
“I know.”
“He said Ethan is small enough that people will believe anything happened by accident.”
For one dangerous second, Serafina forgot how to breathe.
Then she wrapped Lily against her.
“You did exactly the right thing by coming to me.”
“I was scared.”
“You can be scared and still do the right thing.”
Over Lily’s shoulder, Serafina looked at Matteo.
His face had changed.
The old Capo understood the meaning of her expression.
Victor had crossed a line from which there would be no negotiation.
Serafina drove Lily home herself.
Before entering the mansion, she instructed Matteo to remain out of sight and discover who had entered the Caradonna house during the previous three weeks.
Inside, Victor was waiting in the library.
Nolan sat across from him drinking bourbon.
Neither man looked surprised to see her.
Victor’s eyes fell immediately to Lily.
“Did you enjoy your little trip?”
Serafina stopped.
Nolan frowned.
“What trip?”
Lily squeezed her mother’s hand.
Victor smiled.
“Lily was visiting one of her friends.”
Serafina said nothing.
Nolan looked at Lily.
“Which friend?”
Victor’s smile disappeared.
Serafina watched him carefully.
He had made an error.
A small one.
But arrogant men often revealed themselves because they assumed everyone else was slower than they were.
Lily whispered, “Can I go upstairs?”
Serafina kissed her forehead.
“Yes.”
When Lily had gone, Nolan turned toward Serafina.
“Where was she?”
“With me.”
“You took her out of school?”
“No.”
Victor stood.
“Children wander. It happens.”
Serafina looked at him.
“Does it?”
Victor understood the warning.
Nolan did not.
He poured himself another drink.
“I swear, every conversation in this house has become some kind of mystery with you.”
Serafina walked toward him.
“When was the last time you visited my father’s old house?”
Nolan laughed.
“I’ve never been there.”
She believed him.
Nolan was many things, but he was a terrible liar.
Victor was not.
Serafina turned toward the older man.
“And you?”
“Years ago.”
“How many?”
Victor shrugged.
“I don’t keep a diary.”
“Maybe you should have.”
Nolan put down his glass.
“What is this about?”
Victor answered before she could.
“Your wife is having one of her episodes.”
Serafina smiled.
It was the first time Victor looked genuinely uncomfortable.
“You’re frightened.”
Victor laughed.
“Of you?”
“No. Of something I’m going to find.”
Nolan stood.
“That’s enough.”
He stepped between them, facing Serafina as though she were the source of the tension.
“You don’t speak to my father like that.”
Serafina looked at the man she had married.
Twelve years earlier Nolan had been charming, ambitious, and reckless.
She had believed his recklessness meant independence from Victor.
She eventually learned that men who spent their lives rebelling against controlling fathers sometimes became exact copies of them.
“You should ask him why he visited my father the night he died.”
Nolan’s face changed.
Victor’s did not.
That was another answer.
“You knew?” Serafina asked Nolan.
“Knew what?”
“Victor was there.”
Nolan looked toward his father.
Victor sighed.
“Lorenzo asked to see me.”
“Why?”
“Old business.”
“What business?”
“Dead men deserve privacy.”
Serafina stepped closer.
“My father left me something.”
Victor’s eyes flickered once.
The movement was almost invisible.
But she saw it.
“What?” Nolan asked.
Serafina kept watching Victor.
“A ledger.”
Victor laughed softly.
“Your father had hundreds.”
“This one had names.”
The older man’s jaw tightened.
“Promises.”
He said nothing.
“Oaths.”
Still nothing.
“And a declaration.”
Victor finally looked away.
Nolan stared between them.
“What declaration?”
Serafina did not answer.
She had learned what she needed.
Victor knew exactly what was inside the missing ledger.
That evening, Matteo called.
“I found the man who entered the Caradonna house.”
“Who?”
“Security camera from a neighboring property caught his vehicle.”
Serafina went to the upstairs sitting room and locked the door.
“Tell me.”
“Victor’s driver.”
“When?”
“Six nights ago.”
“Was Victor with him?”
“No.”
“Anyone else?”
“Yes.”
Serafina waited.
Matteo’s voice became quieter.
“Nolan.”
Her eyes closed.
“You’re certain?”
“I watched the footage myself.”
“What time?”
“1:08 in the morning.”
Serafina remembered that night.
Nolan had told her he was staying downtown because a business dinner ran late.
He had returned shortly after two.
She gripped the phone.
“Did he leave with anything?”
“A black leather book.”
For several seconds, Serafina could hear only the blood pounding behind her ears.
Then Matteo added one final detail.
“Serafina, Nolan didn’t give the book to Victor.”
“Then who?”
“We don’t know.”
“You followed the car?”
“Yes.”
“Where did it go?”
“To Saint Gabriel’s cemetery.”
Serafina frowned.
Her father was buried there.
“So Nolan hid it at my father’s grave?”
“No.”
“Then what happened?”
“The camera near the cemetery gate shows him leaving without the ledger.”
“With whom did he meet?”
“We only have a partial image.”
“Describe the person.”
“A woman.”
Serafina’s hand tightened around the phone.
May you like
Matteo continued.
“She was waiting beside your mother’s grave.”
