Page 214 of Merciless Daddy

“We will do both,” he said.

It should have settled me.

Instead, I watched Pietro leave to prepare the convoys, and I thought of Gianni’s empty smile.

A man like him never placed one piece on the board without looking at what would move around it.

*

I arrived at eleven-fifteen.

A legal suite on the thirty-second floor of a downtown office tower. Glass walls. Private elevators. A view of the river that made Chicago look clean from far enough away.

Nothing about it felt clean.

Sal walked beside me through the lobby in a dark suit. Angela stayed on my other side with a file case. Two guards followed at a distance.

At the examination-room door, Sal stopped. His hand found mine.

“You do not have to prove anything to me in there,” he said. “My family and I know that you are extremely capable, honey.”

“I know.”

“You do not have to answer anything outside the scope of your capacity.”

“I know.”

“And if you want out—”

“I tell you.”

His eyes held mine.

“You tell me,” he repeated.

I nodded.

He kissed my knuckles once, formal enough for a hallway full of cameras. Tender enough that I felt it in my chest.

Then he stepped back.

The examiner was an older woman in a grey suit. Her office had no personal photos. No books except legal reference volumes. A recorder sat on the table between us.

Angela took a seat against the wall.

“You understand this is voluntary?” the examiner asked.

“Yes.”

“And that you may pause or end the interview?”

“Yes.”

“May I ask why have you agreed to this interview?”

“Because Gianni Scordato has claimed I am incapable of making independent decisions. I disagree.”

The woman clicked her pen.