Chapter 4 - THE BROTHER WHO SMILED TOO MUCH
Vincent arrived for dinner as if nobody suspected him.
He kissed Luca's forehead.
He shook Anthony's hand.
Then he smiled at me.
Too long.
“So this is Evelyn.”
My stomach tightened.
Anthony noticed.
“How do you know her name?”
Vincent laughed.
“The whole house is talking about her.”
“Are they?”
Anthony's voice was soft.
Vincent's smile weakened.
Dinner became a performance.
Anthony discussed shipping contracts.
Vincent complained about city permits.
Luca ate macaroni beside me.
Nobody mentioned Celeste.
Nobody mentioned the pool.
Then Vincent looked at Luca.
“You gave everyone a scare, little man.”
Luca froze.
Anthony put down his fork.
Vincent continued.
“Maybe next time you'll stay away from deep water.”
Luca whispered, “I didn't want to go.”
Vincent's fork stopped.
Anthony looked at him.
“What does that mean?” Vincent asked.
Luca looked at me.
I squeezed his hand.
“Tell your father.”
“The white lady said Daddy wanted me outside.”
Vincent laughed.
But his face had gone pale.
“Children imagine things.”
Anthony leaned back.
“Interesting.”
“What?”
“I didn't say who the white lady was.”
Silence.
Vincent looked at me.
That was his mistake.
Because I saw it.
Recognition.
Not surprise.
He knew.
Anthony stood.
“Marco.”
Security entered.
Vincent pushed away from the table.
“You're serious?”
“Take Luca upstairs,” Anthony told me.
I did.
Halfway up the stairs, a gunshot exploded downstairs.
Luca screamed.
I grabbed him.
Another shot.
Glass shattered.
Then the lights went out.
“Miss Evelyn!”
“I have you.”
I carried him toward his room.
A man stepped from the darkness.
Not Marco.
Not one of Anthony's guards.
He raised a gun.
I turned my body around Luca.
The shot never came.
Anthony appeared behind the man.
There was a struggle.
A brutal sound.
The gun hit the floor.
Anthony slammed the stranger into the wall.
“Who sent you?”
The man smiled through blood.
Then bit down.
Anthony grabbed his jaw.
Too late.
The stranger collapsed.
Dead.
Poison.
Luca was crying against my shoulder.
Anthony looked at him.
Then at me.
His hands were bloody.
“Give him to me.”
Luca clung tighter.
“No!”
Anthony froze.
“Luca.”
“No!”
The pain on Anthony's face was immediate.
I whispered, “He's scared.”
“Of me?”
I didn't answer.
Anthony looked at the blood on his hands.
Then stepped backward.
That night, I stayed beside Luca until he slept.
When I opened the bedroom door, Anthony was sitting on the floor in the hallway.
The most feared man in Baltimore.
Sitting alone outside his son's room.
“He thinks I'm a monster,” he said.
“He saw blood.”
“He sees blood every time he sees me.”
I sat beside him.
“You saved us.”
“He doesn't know that.”
“Then show him.”
Anthony looked at me.
“I don't know how.”
That was the moment I stopped seeing a mafia boss.
I saw a father who had spent years building walls so high he no longer knew how to reach his own child.
“You start tomorrow,” I said.
“With what?”
“Pancakes.”
He stared.
“Pancakes?”
“Luca likes dinosaurs. Make dinosaur pancakes.”
“I own six restaurants.”
“You're making them yourself.”
For the first time, Anthony Pellagrini almost smiled.
But downstairs, Marco was discovering something much less hopeful.
May you like
The dead attacker had entered using Vincent's security code.
And Vincent was gone.
