Chapter 1
Serafina did not let the garden become an execution ground.
That disappointed several Bellandi men.
She did not care.
“Back.”
The capos stopped immediately.
Nolan was still tangled beneath two collapsed folding chairs. Victor sat against the padded garden bench, one hand across his ribs.
Serafina turned away from both of them.
“Leo.”
Her son was on his knees now.
Grass stained the front of his shirt.
Mia stood beside him, rubbing the shoulder she had landed on.
Serafina crouched.
“Can you breathe?”
Leo nodded.
“Back hurt?”
“A little.”
“Neck?”
“No.”
She looked at Mia.
“Arm?”
“My shoulder.”
“Can you move it?”
Mia raised it carefully.
“Yes.”
“Good.”
Serafina called the estate physician.
Then she called her attorney.
Not a soldier.
Not another relative.
An attorney.
Victor heard.
His expression changed again.
“You’re making this a legal matter?”
Serafina looked at him.
“My cousin pinned my son to the ground. You watched. Then both of you attacked me.”
“He was teaching the boy discipline.”
Leo flinched.
Serafina saw it.
That ended any desire she had to argue with Victor.
“Preserve the garden cameras,” she told security.
Nolan finally got one chair off himself.
“You threatened to kill me.”
Serafina looked toward him.
The exact words came back.
Someone who’s about to die doesn’t need to know the truth.
A terrible sentence.
Especially from a Bellandi.
Especially on camera.
“My lawyer will deal with what I said.”
“That’s it?”
“No.”
She looked at the children.
“My children come first.”
Police were called after the estate physician examined Leo and Mia.
Neither child had a serious physical injury.
Leo had bruising along one shoulder blade and abrasions from the lawn.
Mia had a bruised upper arm and hip.
The physician recommended a pediatric evaluation anyway.
Serafina agreed.
Before leaving, Leo asked:
“Are they coming with us?”
“No.”
“Grandpa Victor too?”
Victor was not Leo’s grandfather biologically. He was Serafina’s uncle and the children had used the family title since they were small.
Serafina did not correct him.
“No.”
Leo nodded and walked toward the car.
The relief on his face disturbed her.
Not fear after one incident.
Relief.
Her attorney, Dana Walsh, arrived at the pediatric clinic forty minutes later.
“You understand the statement at the end of that footage is a problem.”
“Yes.”
“What did you mean?”
“That Nolan’s place in this family was finished.”
Dana stared at her.
“That is not remotely how it sounded.”
“I know.”
“Did you intend physical harm?”
“No.”
“Did you order any?”
“No.”
“Will you?”
“No.”
Dana nodded.
“Good. Keep that answer boring.”
Serafina almost smiled.
Then Dana became serious.
“There’s something else. The police asked why those capos reacted to you like that.”
Serafina looked through the glass toward Leo and Mia.
Officially, she was the Bellandi organization’s financial strategist.
The woman who “handled numbers.”
That was what junior associates were allowed to believe.
For eighteen months, however, final strategic authority had rested with her through a private leadership agreement among the senior capos.
It kept public attention away from her children.
Only a small group knew.
Nolan was not among them.
Victor had always claimed he wasn’t either.
May you like
Now Serafina was no longer sure.
Because Victor had recognized the capos’ movement before Nolan understood anything had changed.
