Page 258 of Caterina
“I outgrew him,” he says. “He couldn’t keep up, and you didn’t step up and take your chance when you had it. You were both weak.”
Carlo’s face goes pale with rage.
For a second, all the age drops away from him, and I can see the boy he must have been then.
Entitled.
Spoiled.
Certain the world owed him his father’s chair.
“You think power made you better than us,” Carlo says.
Papà’s mouth barely moves.
“No,” he says. “I think learning from my failures and not being a cowardly scumbag who tries to murder children makes me better than you.”
“You have no idea what I’m capable of,” Carlo threatens.
“I’m sure I do,” Papà says. “You waited decades to come for me and still missed.”
Carlo’s gaze cuts to me.
“No,” he says softly. “I didn’t.”
I set my pen down.
“You did,” I say. “In every single way.”
Carlo looks at me again.
“We have proof of all your legally questionable actions, plus you knowingly admitting it on camera. We’ve found evidence that you’re connected to the threats. Damiano’s granddaughter there sang like a canary. And I’m sure it won’t be long until I find a connection between you three and payment for the mercenaries you sent to my home. I already have a line on them.”
Damiano’s face goes gray.
Carlo looks at Roberto, then Antonio, then my father.
Then, finally back to me.
“You think this ends in court?” he asks.
“No,” I say and lean forward.
His eyes narrow.
“But I do think we have some unspoken rules, and I can guarantee that everyone who still respects your name and does business with you is about to find out you needed to threatenchildren and pregnant women because you could not face Luca Conti directly.”
Rocco’s face twists.
Damiano closes his eyes.
Carlo stays very still.
That is the part that hurts him.
More than the legal troubles, more than the possibility of prison, or even financial ruin.
Humiliation.
