14. Rocco #2
“D’Amato’s watching,” he says. “Half the city’s watching. Matteo’s already made you look weak by taking her off-grid. If you turn on Claudia now, you split the council, invite Rafe to move, and tell every old ally that your pregnant wife can drag you around by the throat.”
Pregnant wife. Not Serena. Not my wife. Tool. Weakness. Soft spot.
I wonder how many times I have let men talk around her instead of about her. Too many.
“The family already split,” I say.
Vittorio’s eyes narrow. “What?”
“The day they helped exile my pregnant wife.”
The room goes quiet. Claudia’s face empties. Vittorio goes very still.
Because there it is. Helped. Not suspected. Not maybe. Helped.
I’m saying it aloud before I have the whole net closed. Risky. Possibly stupid. Serena would say my brand.
“Careful,” Vittorio says.
“No.”
His head tilts. “No?”
“No. I’ve been careful with the wrong people.”
Claudia steps in softly. “Rocco, you’re tired. The hospital scared you. Anyone would be shaken after seeing Serena like that.”
“You mean pale?” I ask.
She freezes. Tiny. So tiny. But I see it. Lewis sees it too.
Because Claudia shouldn’t know that. I didn’t say pale. No one told her how Serena looked. At least no one on my side.
“What?” she asks.
“You said seeing Serena like that.”
“In pain.”
“You said pale.”
“No, I?—”
“You thought it.”
That’s not evidence. A council would laugh it out of the room. But Claudia’s face tells me enough.
Someone told her. Someone close enough to see Serena at the hospital or through the stairwell window. The photo message. Your wife has more visitors than you think.
My hands go cold.
Vittorio’s voice cuts through. “You’re making accusations out of smoke.”
“Then let’s clear the room.”
“And start a war with whom? A widow? Your uncle? Your own council? Rafe will smell blood before sunrise.”
“Good.”
Vittorio stares. “Good?”
“If Rafe moves, I can see him.”
“You arrogant?—”
“Enough.”
My voice drops. He stops. Not because he wants to. Because even old men remember who holds the chair now.
I take out my phone and call Bastian. He answers on the first ring. “Boss.”
“Freeze Claudia’s family access.”
Claudia’s face goes white. Vittorio steps forward. “Rocco.”
I hold up one hand. “All discretionary accounts. Security clearances. Safe house lists. Council packet access. Anything tied to her name, her staff, or her widow’s household.”
“Understood,” Bastian says.
Claudia’s voice cracks. “You can’t do that.”
“I can,” I say.
“On what grounds?”
“My wife’s safety.”
She recoils as if I struck her. I did not. I like that part.
“Rocco,” Vittorio says, lower now. Dangerous. “Think.”
“I am.”
“No. You are reacting.”
“Reacting was sending Serena away.” I keep my eyes on Claudia. “This is thinking.”
Bastian says, “Do you want personal accounts frozen?”
Claudia grips the back of the chair. Vittorio’s expression sharpens. There. Money. Power gets very honest around money.
“Not personal,” I say.
Claudia breathes.
“Yet.”
She stops breathing. Good.
I hang up. The room is silent except for the fire. Claudia looks smaller now. Not weak. Never weak. Just less surrounded by borrowed power.
“I loved this family,” she says.
“No,” I say. “You loved standing close enough to it that people mistook you for untouchable.”
Her eyes flash. There she is again. “You will regret humiliating me.”
Vittorio says her name softly. Warning. Too late.
I smile. It feels awful. “I already regret the wrong humiliation.”
She understands. I see it. Serena at the bank till. Serena at the hospital. Serena holding an ultrasound photo through a chained door.
Those are humiliations. Not this. This is overdue accounting.
Vittorio moves between us. “You’ve made your point.”
“No.”
“Rocco.”
“She leaves the Edinburgh house tonight.”
Claudia’s mouth opens. Vittorio’s eyes go black. “She is family.”
“Then she can stay with you.”
Lewis looks down. Definitely hiding something now. Possibly a smile.
“You’re isolating yourself,” Vittorio says.
“No. I’m noticing who isolated my wife and calling it family policy.”
His face hardens. “Serena’s made you weak.”
I step closer to him. This time I don’t stop at arm’s length. Vittorio doesn’t step back. He’s still brave. I’ll give him that.
“Serena made me human,” I say. “You taught me to be proud of everything that hurt her.”
He flinches. Not much. Enough.
Claudia whispers, “Rocco.”
I ignore her.
“If Rafe strikes because I cut off Claudia’s accounts, then Rafe was already in the room. If the council splits because I ask why my wife was framed, then the council was already rotten. If the family cannot survive me protecting Serena without owning her, then the family deserves to bleed.”
Vittorio’s mouth thins. “Pretty speech.”
“I wasn’t making one.”
My phone buzzes. Lewis checks his at the same time. Confirmation from Bastian. Claudia’s access is cut.
First real cost. Small compared to what Serena paid. Large enough that the room feels it. Claudia feels it most.
Her hand grips the chair until her knuckles pale.
“This is not over,” she says.
“No,” I agree. “It isn’t.”
Vittorio takes her elbow. She lets him. Another thread. So many threads now the lie is starting to look like rope.
At the door, she turns back. The tears are gone. The widow is gone. What looks at me is sharper. Older. Hungrier.
“When the family turns on you,” she says, “do not expect Serena to save you. She’s already chosen another man’s protection.”
The last little knife. Matteo.
My body reacts before my pride can even dress. Heat. Jealousy. Rage. The image of Matteo in the hospital, opening crackers, folding the blanket right. I want to break something. I want to go to Lucia’s flat and put myself between Serena and every man breathing.
Instead I stand still. Because Serena told me not like this. Because wanting her is not the same as deserving her. Because if another man’s protection became safer than mine, that is my crime before it is his temptation.
“Serena chose not to be dragged home,” I say. “I’m trying to become the kind of man who understands the difference.”
Claudia’s face twists. For a second. Then Vittorio pulls the door open and takes her out.
Lewis and I are left with the fire, the files, and the stink of something finally exposed to air.
He waits until their footsteps fade. “You know they’ll move now.”
“Yes.”
“Claudia first.”
“Probably.”
“Vittorio harder.”
“Definitely.”
Lewis studies the closed door. “Do we tell Serena?”
I think of her in the hospital bed. Scared. Strong enough to stop me with two words. I think of her on the curb, and the question I’ll hear for the rest of my life.
“Not tonight,” I say.
Lewis doesn’t argue. Good.
“Tonight she rests.”
“And you?”
I pick up the file with Nadia’s face on top. “Tonight I make sure Claudia has nowhere left to hide.”
My phone lights up again before Lewis can answer. A notification from Bastian.
CLAUDIA CASTELLANO: FAMILY ACCESS REVOKED.
I stare at it for one second.
Then I forward it to every council member with one line.
By my order.