He shakes his head desperately. “Giulio won’t allow it.”
“Giulio used you.”
His jaw tightens. Too late, but he understands that much.
“He didn’t want you restored,” I say. “He wanted you unstable and visible.”
Dante’s eyes narrow.
“He wanted the council watching me choose between blood and judgment,” I continue. “If I protected you, I proved I still placed my son above the code. If I punished you, I fractured my own line. Either way, he gained ground.”
“He pushed your return because your presence makes every room weaker,” I continue. “You threaten Evie, I look compromised. You behave, he argues for rehabilitation. You fail, he argues my authority failed first. There was no version of your return that served you.”
Dante’s gaze cuts toward Evie. A mistake.
I move before the look finishes. One step.
Luca moves at the same time. Dante lifts the paperweight, but Luca has his wrist. The sound of bone breaking under Luca’s pressure is small. Dante gasps. The paperweight falls, hitting the runner with a muted thud and rolling once against the wall.
Evie doesn’t flinch, but something moves under her hand. I see the shift in her body when it happens.
One of the twins. One of my daughters.
Luca forces Dante’s arm behind his back. Dante laughs through the pain.
“There he is,” he says, breath uneven. “The great Don Vitale. Hiding behind dogs.”
I look at Luca. “Release him enough for him to stand.”
Luca adjusts. Dante straightens, badly. His face is pale now. Sweat at his temple. Alcohol beneath mint again. Always beneath everything.
I step close. “You are removed from the Vitale family.”
His laugh stops.
“Effective now,” I continue. “Your accounts are frozen. Your access codes revoked. Your name removed from internal ledgers. No collections. No territory. No tribute. No men. No safe houses. No medical channel. No drivers. No counsel.”
His breathing changes. This is the first real fear I see from him. Not from physical harm, but loss of structure.
Men like Dante call structure a cage until it stops feeding them. That’s when they understand it was shelter all along.
“You can’t,” he says.
“I have.”
“You need council approval.”
“No.”
Salvatore speaks from behind me, voice quiet. “For removal from succession, yes. For withdrawal of personal protection and internal privilege, no. His authority is sufficient.”
Dante looks at him. “Old bastard.”
Salvatore doesn’t react.
Dante looks at Evie next. “Shedid this.”
“No,” I say.
