"Please." Eraldo's voice cracks. "Please don't tell her. It would destroy her."
"I know it would." I grip the armrests of my wheelchair until my knuckles turn white. "That's why I'm not going to tell her."
Eraldo's whole body sags with relief.
"Not yet," I add.
He freezes.
"I'm giving you one more chance." I hold up a single finger. "One. Not because you deserve it. Not because I believe you'll change. But because Antonella married a stranger to save your worthless life, and I won't be the one to tell her it was all for nothing."
Eraldo nods frantically. "I'll do better. I swear. I'll?—"
"Shut up."
He shuts up.
"I don't want your promises." I lean back in my wheelchair. "Your promises mean nothing. You've broken every single one you've ever made. To your wife. To your children. To yourself. Words are worthless coming from you."
Eraldo's face crumples again.
"What I want is action." I hold his gaze. "You will return to New York. You will complete the work we assigned you. You will stay away from every casino, every card game, every back-room poker table in the city. You will answer your phone when your children call. You will be the father they deserve, even if it kills you."
"I will." Eraldo's voice is barely audible. "I swear I will."
"And if you don't..." I pause. Let the silence stretch. "If you prove me wrong one more time. If you touch another deck of cards. If you place another bet. If you disappear again..."
I wheel myself around the table until I'm right beside him. Close enough to smell the desperation on his skin.
"You better disappear for good," I say quietly. "Because if I have to come find you again, I won't be bringing you to a restaurant for a conversation. I'll be bringing you to a warehouse. And you won't be walking out."
Eraldo's face goes white.
"Do you understand me?"
He nods.
"Say it."
"I understand." His voice shakes. "I understand."
"Good." I wheel back. Put distance between us. "The forty thousand you owe will be added to your family's debt. You'll work it off like everything else. And you will never—never—use my wife's name to secure credit again. If I hear that you've mentioned Antonella to anyone, for any reason, I will consider it a personal insult. And I don't forgive insults."
Eraldo swallows hard. "I won't. I promise."
"I told you." I turn my wheelchair toward the door. "Your promises mean nothing. Only your actions matter now."
I gesture to Liam, who's been standing silently by the door this entire time.
"Take him back to New York," I say. "Put him in a hotel. Assign two men to watch him around the clock. If he so much as looks at a deck of cards, I want to know immediately."
Liam nods. "Understood."
I look at Eraldo one last time. This broken, pathetic man who destroyed his family with his weakness.
"I'm doing this for her," I say. "Only for her. Remember that."
Eraldo opens his mouth. Closes it. Nods.