“He’s right,” Silvio said, his face hardening as he looked at the other captains. “Thomas was already in the morgue on the tenth.”

The captains began to murmur among themselves, shifting their weight and moving away from Leo.

“This is a coup,” one of the men by the door said, looking at Leo with disgust.

“I did what had to be done for this family!” Leo yelled, his eyes wild as he realized he was losing them.

“You tried to kill infants, Leo,” Silvio said. “And you tried to kill Elena’s daughter.”

“She’s not one of us,” Leo hissed.

“She has more of her mother’s face than you ever did,” Silvio said.

Outside, the rain lashed against the tall glass windows of the study, the wind howling through the trees.

The room felt smaller now, the tension thick enough to taste.

Dominic made a sudden, sharp movement on the floor, his hands coming free as the severed rope fell away.

His fingers closed around the handle of the silver scalpel.

He looked up at me, a silent message in his dark eyes.