Chapter 19 - Her Place
The next morning, I took Ruby and Ethan to a furniture workshop.
A local carpenter named Miguel let them choose wood and fabric.
Ruby picked blue.
Ethan picked green.
“They don’t match,” the designer warned.
“Good.”
Two chairs.
At home, we placed them on either side of mine.
Ruby climbed into hers.
Ethan climbed into his.
Daniel began spending weekends with Ethan.
Slowly.
Carefully.
Ethan started calling him Daniel first.
Then Dad Daniel.
He still called me Dom.
Sometimes Mr. Dom when he was mad at me.
Ruby started therapy with a child specialist unaffiliated with the Falcone network.
So did Ethan.
So did I.
That last part shocked Luca more than any federal subpoena.
Six months after the banquet, I sold the mansion.
Too many rooms had become places where children learned to listen for adult footsteps.
We moved to a smaller house outside the city.
Still secure.
Still comfortable.
But no council room.
No ballroom.
The first night there, Ruby walked around touching walls.
“This ours?”
“Yes.”
“Mommy Val come?”
“No.”
“Uncle Marcus?”
“No.”
She nodded.
Then asked, “Mommy Isabella know?”
I looked toward the window.
“I think she’d like it.”
At dinner, Ethan arrived with Daniel.
He had begun spending half the week with his father.
He carried a backpack and a baseball glove.
Ruby yelled his name and ran to him.
Halfway through dinner, Luca called.
“Last piece is done.”
“What piece?”
“The board approved the new trust governance.”
Ruby’s thirty-two percent would remain under independent stewardship until she was an adult.
No spouse.
No guardian.
No family member could vote it for personal benefit.
Not even me.
I smiled.
“Good.”
Luca laughed.
“You are the first Falcone I’ve ever heard celebrate losing power.”
I looked at Ruby with sauce on her cheek.
“No.”
I said it quietly.
“I finally figured out what power is for.”
Then the doorbell rang.
A delivery driver handed me one last box from the old mansion.
Inside was the chair Valentina had pulled away.
Teresa had saved it.
May you like
Ruby stared at it.
So did I.
