Page 314 of Ricardo

I turn my attention back to the television as the anchor’s face appears on the screen, solemn. I turn the TV up a tick when, behind her, a photograph of Harrison Winthrop III appears in a dark suit, smiling beside his father at a campaign event.

The call came from Atlantic City an hour ago to watch the news tonight.

My fingers curl against the arm of the chair.

A banner moves across the bottom of the screen.

Breaking News.

The first name scrolls across the screen.

A woman, a former campaign aide, now represented by counsel, has come forward with allegations of abuse, coercion, intimidation, and a private settlement arranged through intermediaries tied to the Winthrop family.

The anchor continues speaking, and I eat up every word.

“Sources close to the investigation say the allegations are supported by financial records, private correspondence, and at least one settlement agreement tied to a Winthrop family adviser,” the woman says seriously.

Then she moves on to speak about a second woman who is expected to speak through her attorney within the next twenty-four hours.

I already know there are more than that, and that they’ll be coming forward soon.

“Anonymous sources are also reporting that authorities are investigating allegations of Winthrop involvement in connection with the attempted abduction of Julia O’Brien last month. Former fiancée of Winthrop, and daughter of prominent local Judge Patrick O’Brien, Ms. O’Brien was attacked in her home recently, during which time a shooting wounded a family friend endeavoring to protect her from the intruders. The friend’s identity has not been released.”

It will stay that way.

Dante’s name will not be dragged through this.

I sit back slowly.

A man like Harrison Winthrop might be able to shake off the abuse allegations. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth, but men like him often do. But an attempted abduction of his former fiancée? He won't be able to get out of that one so easily.

It took Luca’s people six days to find what Harrison spent years burying. Six days to reach women who had been paid into silence. Six days to uncover accounts, shell charities, security invoices, private investigators, and quiet legal threats.

The Winthrops built their name on the assumption that everyone had a price or a secret that could be leveraged.

They miscalculated.

People with long arms, as Vito put it, can reach into places where old money likes to hide its secrets.

The broadcast shifts to footage outside a courthouse in Connecticut. Reporters crowd behind barricades. A lawyer I recognize from Roberto’s file steps to a podium.

I turn up the volume by one more click.

The woman will not appear on camera. Good. Better that way for now. Her attorney, however, speaks for her with enough anger and authority to make it clear this won’t be brushed under the rug so easily.

No one will speak of the blood on Julia’s hands. No one will say my son nearly died on her kitchen floor. No one will attach the Conti name to the shooting, except personally to Julia because she is with me and because that cannot be hidden forever.

The police report has been perfectly shaped.

The hospital records will never be released or connected to the incident.

The building footage has been handled.

Everyone who needed encouragement received it. Everyone who needed payment received more. Everyone who needed threats got those too.

And the only reason Julia's name is even mentioned publicly is her well-known association with Harrison Winthrop.

She sat beside me in this study a week ago with her hands folded in her lap and told Roberto over speakerphone that she knew she would have to give a formal statement. She knew there may be depositions, lawyers, perhaps even a courtroom if the Winthrops fail to bury this fast enough.