“Now they know.” I close the file. “Remove him,” I say.
Rinaldi goes still. “Don, please?—”
“Remove him,” I repeat.
Marco doesn’t hesitate. Rinaldi is taken out of the room by guards. The door closes.
“Replacement?” Marco asks.
“Internal.”
“Yes.”
“And double the inspection at Pier 14.”
“It will slow operations.”
“It will correct them.”
Marco nods.
The next meeting is quieter. Council liaison. Giulio’s representative. An older man who speaks carefully and listens more than he admits to.
“The council has concerns,” he says.
“About what?” I ask.
“The Irish situation.”
Of course.
“They believe the matter remains unresolved.”
“It’s contained,” I say.
“For now,” he says. “But containment is not resolution.”
“No,” I agree. “It isn’t.”
“And your son?—”
“Is not part of this conversation,” I interrupt.
“He is the conversation.”
I look at him. He doesn’t flinch.
“They want assurances,” he says. “That the instability has been addressed.”
“It has.”
“And the marriage.”
There it is.
“The alliance was structured through that union,” he continues. “Without it?—”
“The alliance still stands,” I cut him off again.
