Chapter 3 - The Search for the Truth
Damon Cain did not look like a man who belonged on his knees. He was six-foot-two, built like a lightweight boxer, and carried the weight of an empire that operated in the shadows between legitimate politics and organized crime.
Yet there he was, sitting back on his heels in his five-thousand-dollar suit, gently dabbing the tears from a six-year-old girl's face with his handkerchief.
"I know you're not a thief, Sophia," Damon said, his voice surprisingly soft.
Evelyn gasped behind him. "Damon! Are you out of your mind?! The ring is worth eighty thousand dollars!"
Damon didn't turn around. "Marco," he called out softly.
"Sir?" the head of security replied, stepping forward instantly.
"Lock the front gates," Damon ordered calmly. "Nobody enters the estate. Nobody leaves. Turn off the main security cameras covering the perimeter for the next thirty minutes. If a single news outlet or local police cruiser approaches the driveway, handle it quietly."
"Right away, boss," Marco said, pulling out a dark radio and barking orders into it as he walked toward the security office.
Rosa rushed forward, pulling Sophia into her arms and holding her tight against her chest. "Mr. Cain, please. Search us. Search my bag, search my apartment downtown, search everything! We didn't take it! I would never steal from you!"
Damon stood up, smoothing the front of his jacket. "I don't need to search your apartment, Rosa. I know who stole the ring."
Evelyn's face paled slightly. "What are you talking about? Are you blaming me for losing my own jewelry?!"
"You didn't lose it, Evelyn," Damon said, his voice dropping into that terrifyingly level tone that signaled danger to anyone who knew him. "You sold it."
The foyer went completely still.
"What?!" Evelyn shrieked, her voice cracking. "How dare you! That ring was my mother's legacy! I loved Elena, and I love this family! How can you accuse me of such a vile thing?!"
Damon pulled a slim silver cigarette case from his pocket, opened it, and lit one with a heavy brass lighter. He took a slow drag, blowing smoke toward the vaulted ceiling before looking back at his sister-in-law.
"Three nights ago, you met a man named Jimmy 'The Dip' Rossi at a private lounge in the South End," Damon said casually, as if reading a grocery list. "Jimmy runs an illegal fence operation out of a pawn shop on 4th Street. You owed a hundred and twenty thousand dollars to a high-stakes baccarat table at the Encore casino. You gave him the canary diamond as collateral to keep his collection agents from breaking your kneecaps."
Evelyn froze. The color drained out of her face so fast she looked like a ghost standing in her silk robe. Her lips trembled, but no sound came out.
"Did you really think," Damon whispered, stepping closer to her, "that anything happens in this city—especially involving a member of my household—that doesn't cross my desk within two hours?"
Rosa stared at Evelyn in total disbelief. "You... you knew you didn't have the ring? You blamed my child just to cover your gambling debt?!"
Evelyn's composure completely crumbled. "Damon... please... I was desperate! Those men were threatening me! They said they were going to come to the estate!"
"And instead of coming to me," Damon said coldly, "you decided to frame a housekeeper and her six-year-old daughter. You were going to let Marco throw them out into the street, arrest Rosa, and destroy a child's life just to hide your own pathetic addiction."
"Damon, I'm your sister-in-law!" Evelyn wailed, reaching out to touch his arm. "Elena would never have let you treat me like this!"
Damon's eye flashed with a terrifying dark light. He caught Evelyn's wrist mid-air, holding it in a grip of iron.
"Do not," Damon said, his voice dripping with lethal quietness, "ever speak my wife's name in this house again."
He dropped her wrist like it was garbage. Evelyn stumbled back, sobbing hysterically.
"Marco," Damon called out.
Marco appeared at the side door instantly. "Sir?"
"Take Evelyn to her room," Damon ordered. "Pack her bags. Have two of the boys drive her to the airport and put her on a one-way flight to her family's property in Vermont. If she sets foot in Massachusetts again without my permission, ensure she suffers the financial consequences of her casino debts herself."
"No! Damon, please! You can't do this!" Evelyn screamed as Marco firmly grabbed her arm and began hauling her upstairs. Her frantic shrieks echoed through the grand house until a door slammed shut in the east wing.
Silence descended upon the foyer once more.
Damon took another drag of his cigarette, then dropped it into an antique marble tray on the hall table. He turned back toward Rosa and Sophia.
Rosa was trembling, still holding Sophia close. She had never seen the mafia boss act with such swift, terrifying precision.
Damon walked over to Sophia, crouching down once more so he was at eye level with the child.
"I owe you an apology, little one," Damon said quietly. "Nobody will ever call you a thief in this house again. Do you understand me?"
Sophia wiped her nose with her shirt cuff and nodded slowly. "Can I still go see the big dog?"
May you like
A tiny, faint smile—the first one Rosa had ever seen on Damon Cain's face in two years—appeared at the corner of his lips.
"Yes," Damon said softy. "You can see Zeus whenever you want."
