Nobody moved.
Enzo crossed the threshold unhurried, hands loose at his sides, the posture of a man who'd spent twenty years learning patience and had finally run out of reasons to keep practicing it.
"You're all here," he said. "Good. I wasn't certain Dante would actually go through with the confession. I'm glad he did. It saves us time."
"You knew about the clause," Adrian said. "The whole time. You waited for it to activate."
"I've watched the calendar for twenty years, Mr. Vale. I'm aware, better than anyone in this room, exactly how long twenty years feels when you're counting every day of it." Enzo's voice stayed level, but something underneath it had teeth. "Midnight came. The role transferred. That's not manipulation. That's the document doing exactly what your father wrote it t
