Chapter 2
Leo’s injuries were not severe.
The doctor found bruising across his back and shoulder but no broken ribs.
Mia had only abrasions.
Physically, both children would recover.
Emotionally was different.
Leo asked three times whether Javier was coming back that night.
Mia refused to go downstairs until Dante personally walked through every room with her.
That evening, Dante sat between them on the edge of Leo’s bed.
“Did Uncle Javier ever hurt either of you before today?”
Both children said no.
Dante believed them.
Then Mia said something else.
“He was being weird.”
Dante looked at her.
“How?”
“He kept asking Leo if he was scared.”
“When?”
“Today.”
Leo nodded.
“Before you came outside.”
“What exactly did he say?”
Leo frowned, trying to remember.
“He said everybody thinks I’m brave because I’m your kid.”
Dante waited.
“He said I should prove it.”
“How?”
“He wanted me to wrestle him.”
Dante’s jaw tightened.
“You said no?”
“Yes.”
“And then?”
Leo looked embarrassed.
“I told him grown-ups don’t prove they’re strong by beating kids.”
Dante almost smiled despite everything.
That sounded exactly like something Leo would say.
Unfortunately, it also explained Javier’s humiliation.
But it still did not explain why a forty-one-year-old man had become reckless enough to attack his boss’s children in front of half the family.
The next morning, Dante began asking questions.
One bodyguard remembered Clara moving several lawn chairs shortly before the incident.
She had asked that family members sit closer to where Javier was talking with Leo.
Another guest remembered Clara saying, “Stay here. You might miss something.”
When Dante asked Clara about it, she laughed.
“I was arranging seats at a barbecue.”
“Why did you tell people they might miss something?”
“I don’t remember saying that.”
Three people remembered.
Clara still denied it.
Dante did not accuse her of anything.
But he added the detail to the growing list.
Then he checked the estate’s gate records.
Clara and Javier had arrived nearly an hour earlier than they told him they would.
During that hour, Javier had spoken privately with three senior capos.
May you like
Each man gave Dante a different description of the conversation.
That was never a coincidence in his world.
