Chapter 6 - The Price of Being Obedient
Dante stood slowly.
Marco remained by the door.
“When?”
“The morning after you bought the watch.”
“Why?”
“He asked whether anything unusual had happened. I told him about the child.”
Dante stared at him.
“Did he ask where she lived?”
“No. I didn’t know.”
“What else did you tell him?”
“That you took the watch home. That you didn’t eat dinner.”
Marco swallowed.
“I’ve reported to him for eleven years.”
“And you thought you should continue after I told you I’d handle it?”
“I didn’t think.”
There it was.
The excuse that kept appearing whenever someone else paid the price.
Dante felt anger move through him.
Old anger.
Useful anger.
The kind that made decisions feel simple.
He could dismiss Marco.
Punish him.
Let everyone in the house see what happened to a man who failed.
Then he remembered Sophie standing outside the café while Marco told her to move along.
He had heard it.
He had corrected the moment.
He had never asked what kind of world made a grown man comfortable speaking to a freezing child that way.
“Give a complete account to Miriam,” Dante said.
Marco blinked.
“I will.”
“Your duties are suspended until we understand the consequences.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And you don’t contact Margaret or Sophie.”
Marco lowered his head.
“I wanted to apologize.”
“You may want that. It doesn’t make them responsible for hearing it.”
The bodyguard nodded.
After he left, Dante called Miriam.
Then he arranged for independent security professionals to review access to his residence and business systems.
He did not order a search of everyone’s private belongings.
He did not demand phones at the door.
Miriam helped establish a lawful process.
The distinction irritated him.
Then it embarrassed him that it irritated him.
Victor had spent years making unchecked authority feel efficient.
Now Dante understood how much harm could fit inside the word efficient.
The review found extensive access.
Victor could read financial reports before Dante received them.
He approved household staffing.
He controlled several vendor relationships.
He had copies of keys Dante had forgotten existed.
Removing him required more than changing a lock.
Miriam coordinated with the independent directors of the legitimate companies.
Accounts were secured.
Records preserved.
Authorization limits changed.
Victor’s lawyers responded within hours.
They accused Dante of acting irrationally.
They questioned his fitness to lead.
Then a gossip website published a photograph of Sophie outside the café.
The headline suggested a wealthy crime figure had “acquired a child.”
Margaret called shaking with anger.
Dante listened.
He did not ask her to understand his intentions.
“I’ll support the removal requests through your attorney,” he said. “No public response about Sophie without your approval.”
“Someone gave them her photograph.”
“I know.”
“And you brought that world to our door.”
He closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
There was no answer that made it untrue.
At school, Sophie heard another child repeat something from a parent’s conversation.
She came home quiet.
Margaret asked gently what had happened.
Sophie looked at Dante.
“Did you buy me?”
He felt the room change.
“No.”
“You bought the watch.”
“Yes.”
“Then the medicine.”
“I helped pay for care.”
She twisted the rabbit’s ear.
“Then where do I belong?”
Margaret moved beside her.
“With me, sweetheart. You belong with me.”
Dante crouched several feet away.
“And nobody can purchase a place in your life.”
Sophie looked at him.
“Not even with lots?”
“Not even with lots.”
She considered that.
Then she asked, “Can you visit without buying something?”
Dante glanced at the shopping bag he had brought.
Books.
A puzzle.
Too many answers made of objects.
“Yes.”
“Tomorrow?”
“If your grandmother agrees.”
Margaret looked at him for a long moment.
Then she nodded.
“One hour.”
The next afternoon, he arrived empty-handed.
Sophie taught him a card game with rules that changed whenever he began winning.
He complained.
She laughed.
For an hour, he did not check his phone.
When he left, there were six missed calls.
Three from attorneys.
Two from business associates.
One from Victor.
The message was short.
Your father tried to destroy everything too. Look how that ended.
Dante stared at it.
May you like
Then, instead of calling back, he sent it to Miriam.
He had begun learning the difference between being feared and being safe.
