Chapter 6 - Rules of the Vitali House
Lorenzo's security chief resigned Monday morning.
He claimed it was for personal reasons.
Nobody believed him.
By noon, investigators had discovered that the guard who delayed Avery at the gate had received instructions from an internal extension belonging to the security office.
The extension log had been erased.
That evening, Avery finally agreed to stay at the Vitali estate.
Not because Lorenzo insisted.
Not because Gabriel convinced her.
Because somebody left a photograph of Aunt May closing the laundromat beneath Avery's windshield wiper.
No threat.
No message.
That was worse.
Avery packed one suitcase.
Aunt May packed two.
"I'm coming."
"No."
"Then I'm staying home."
Avery knew when she had lost.
The Vitali estate felt different without the dinner.
Still enormous.
Still beautiful.
But quieter.
Lorenzo placed Avery and Aunt May in adjoining rooms in the east wing.
Avery stood in the center of hers and stared.
The bedroom alone was larger than her entire apartment.
"I need a map."
The housekeeper, Rosa, smiled.
"You'll learn."
"If I disappear, check behind a curtain."
Rosa laughed.
Avery liked her immediately.
Lorenzo appeared at the doorway.
"Comfortable?"
"No."
His expression tightened.
"Why?"
"Because there are six pillows on that bed."
"That's the problem?"
"No normal person owns six decorative pillows."
"They came with the room."
"It's your room."
"It isn't my bedroom."
"Still guilty by association."
He shook his head.
"There are rules while you're here."
Avery turned.
"Absolutely not."
"They're security rules."
"Different."
"Rule one: tell someone before leaving."
"Fine."
"Rule two: don't open exterior doors without security."
"Fine."
"Rule three—"
"If rule three involves what I wear, this conversation ends."
"It doesn't."
"Proceed."
"No discussing the investigation with anyone outside this group."
"Obviously."
"Rule four: if I tell you there is immediate danger, you follow my instructions."
Avery stared.
"No."
"Avery."
"I will listen. I will make my own decisions."
"That's not how emergencies work."
"Then explain quickly."
Lorenzo exhaled through his nose.
"You are impossible."
"You made the door joke."
"You intend to use that forever?"
"Probably."
They stared at each other.
Then Lorenzo unexpectedly laughed.
It was brief.
Low.
Real.
Avery felt something shift in her chest.
She ignored it.
That night they ate in the kitchen instead of the formal dining room.
Lorenzo, Avery, Aunt May, Gabriel, and Camila.
Odette had not been invited.
Neither had Marco.
Aunt May made grilled cheese because she refused to eat "tiny leaves arranged artistically."
Lorenzo ate two sandwiches.
Avery learned he had grown up in that house.
His father, Antonio Vitali, had been harsh.
His mother, Elena, had softened the edges.
When Elena died, Lorenzo inherited responsibility for three younger relatives, hundreds of employees, and a business empire already surrounded by rumors.
"Did you ever want it?" Avery asked.
"The company?"
"All of it."
Lorenzo looked around the kitchen.
"Parts."
"Which parts?"
"The building."
"Architect."
He looked surprised.
"You remembered."
"I listen."
"The construction division interested me."
"And the rest?"
"Was inherited."
Camila watched them over her wineglass.
Avery pretended not to notice.
Later, she wandered into the library.
Floor-to-ceiling shelves surrounded a fireplace.
Lorenzo entered carrying two glasses of water.
"No alcohol?" Avery asked.
"Not tonight."
"Responsible mafia boss."
His mouth tightened.
"I dislike that phrase."
"What phrase?"
"Mafia boss."
"People use it."
"People use many inaccurate words."
Avery accepted the water.
"Are the rumors inaccurate?"
He looked at the fire.
"Some."
"That's not an answer."
"No."
She waited.
Lorenzo finally looked at her.
"My father operated differently."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning he believed legality was negotiable."
"And you?"
"I believe prison would interfere with my schedule."
Avery laughed despite herself.
Then his expression became serious.
"I've spent twenty years removing the parts of his network that should never have existed."
"Successfully?"
"Not entirely."
"Marco?"
"Maybe."
Avery sat.
"Lorenzo, if Marco is stealing from you, why not confront him?"
"Because he'll deny it."
"So?"
"Because if Marco isn't working alone, confronting him warns the others."
"Riccardo."
"Perhaps."
"And maybe your security people."
"Yes."
Avery looked into her glass.
"My mother used to say families are dangerous because they know where you're soft."
Lorenzo became still.
"Your mother sounds wise."
"She was."
"What would she think of this?"
Avery looked around.
"The mansion?"
"Me."
That was more difficult.
"She'd probably ask if you tipped."
Lorenzo smiled.
"Did I?"
"Twenty percent."
"Then?"
"She'd reserve judgment."
Fair.
They sat in silence.
No cameras.
No agreement.
No audience.
For the first time, Avery understood why Camila had said Lorenzo was surrounded by people who wanted something.
His world was full of alliances disguised as affection.
Perhaps that was why he noticed whenever Avery asked for nothing.
Lorenzo broke the silence.
"Why do you always say yes to your family?"
Avery frowned.
"What?"
"Your sister uses your car. Your cousins ask you to move furniture. Your aunt relies on you."
"Aunt May and I help each other."
"I know."
"Then?"
"Camila mentioned your sister's interview request."
Avery stiffened.
"What interview?"
Lorenzo realized too late.
"Avery—"
"What interview?"
He took out his phone.
A gossip program had announced an exclusive scheduled for the following evening:
AVERY BOON'S SISTER TELLS ALL: WHO IS THE WOMAN WHO CAPTURED LORENZO VITALI'S ATTENTION?
Avery stared.
Dana.
Her own sister.
"She didn't tell me."
Lorenzo sat closer.
"Gabriel attempted to stop it."
"Why didn't anyone tell me?"
"We only learned an hour ago."
Avery called Dana.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Then a text arrived.
Please don't freak out. They're paying me $8,000 and I won't say anything bad. This can help both of us.
Avery read it three times.
Her hands shook.
Lorenzo didn't touch her.
He simply waited.
Avery typed:
Cancel it.
Dana replied immediately.
I signed already.
Avery stood.
"Excuse me."
She walked out before anybody saw her cry.
She found herself in the same marble corridor where Lorenzo had apologized Thursday night.
How appropriate.
Avery pressed both hands against her face.
The humiliation from strangers had hurt.
This was different.
Dana knew.
Dana knew how Avery hated being discussed like a curiosity.
Dana knew what school had been like.
Dana knew about every joke.
And for eight thousand dollars, she had decided Avery's life belonged to viewers.
Footsteps approached.
Avery didn't turn.
Lorenzo stopped behind her.
"Don't."
"I wasn't going to say anything."
"Good."
He stayed.
After a minute, Avery wiped her face.
"My whole life," she said, "people come to me when they need something."
Lorenzo said nothing.
"I thought being useful made me valuable."
She laughed bitterly.
"Maybe I trained them."
"No."
She turned.
"No?"
"You taught them you were generous."
"Same result."
"No."
His voice was quiet.
"Generosity is what you give. Entitlement is what they take."
Avery stared at him.
The sentence landed somewhere deep.
Lorenzo looked toward the corridor.
"You don't owe anyone unlimited access to you because you helped them before."
For a man raised in a powerful family, he sounded as though he had learned that lesson painfully.
Avery's breathing steadied.
"Can Gabriel stop the interview?"
"Possibly."
"No lawsuits."
"Why?"
"Because Dana will turn herself into a victim."
Lorenzo almost smiled.
"You know your family."
"Unfortunately."
They returned to the library.
Gabriel was already working.
At 11:17 p.m., he discovered the production company buying Dana's interview was owned through two subsidiaries.
At 11:43, they traced the parent company.
Duca Media Group.
Camila went pale.
"My uncle."
Lorenzo looked at her.
"Riccardo owns the division?"
"Controls it."
Avery stared at Dana's message.
Eight thousand dollars.
Not random.
Not opportunity.
Recruitment.
Riccardo Duca wasn't simply watching Avery.
He was building a version of her.
A greedy sister.
A gold-digging courier.
A convenient scandal.
A woman nobody would believe if she found something important.
Avery looked up.
"We don't stop the interview."
Everyone turned.
Lorenzo frowned.
"What?"
"We let Dana do it."
"Avery—"
"And we watch who contacts her afterward."
Gabriel slowly smiled.
"Now that is interesting."
Lorenzo did not smile.
"No."
Avery crossed her arms.
"Your rule four."
"What about it?"
"If there's danger, explain quickly."
"This is danger."
"Then explain."
"You want to use your own sister to draw out whoever is manipulating her."
"No."
Avery looked at the phone.
"I want to see whether somebody thinks my sister is as useful as I used to be."
And somewhere across Savannah, Dana Boon prepared to sell the story of her sister's life.
None of them knew that hidden among the questions she'd been given was one Avery had never told anyone outside her family.
May you like
A question about the final delivery their mother had made before she died.
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