Chapter 19: Clause Four

Antonia's POV

I read the second page aloud in my kitchen voice, the one I use for recipes.

"Clause four. If the child's father dies, is removed from his seat, or is otherwise unable to act before the child comes of age..."

I read the rest slowly.

"...the guardian shall hold and direct all Strozzi interests on the child's behalf."

I stopped.

"The guardian is named in clause one," I said. "It's Carmine Cardello."

"Standard language," my uncle said. His voice was easy. "The lawyer covers every case."

"It says 'dies', Uncle."

"It says what it says."

"You had it drawn this morning. You didn't have it drawn two years ago."

Nobody in the room moved.

I put the compact down and took a phone out of my bag.

It wasn't mine.

"Paolo," I said. "Come here."

Paolo got up from the wall where the underbosses stood.

He walked to the table and set his old phone in front of the old boss, screen up.

Then he took off his coat and folded it over the chair.

"That's the phone I used for Carmine," he said. "I was his man in this house for the first month of the marriage, until I told Vincent."

My uncle's face did not change.

"The thread is the letter C," Paolo said. "Read the top message."

The old boss put on his glasses and read it with his lips moving.

"The day she's carrying, you call me before anyone."

"Dated two years ago last spring," Paolo said. "Read the one under it."

"'After the first birthday, an accident. A car, not a gun. I want him buried in Saint Peter's with a full mass.'"

The man who had hated my uncle for ten years let out a long slow breath.

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