Chapter 4
The three capos told different versions.
That made the truth easier to see.
Captain Hale said the room change was “symbolic.”
Captain Russo called it “household balance.”
Captain Mercer said nothing until I asked him three times.
Then he called it what it was.
“Positioning.”
I leaned back.
The council room had gone cold.
“For Ethan?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Mercer looked at Marcus.
Marcus stared at the table.
Good.
Mercer continued.
“The old families are more comfortable with a boy.”
“Ethan is not my biological son.”
“He is being raised under your roof.”
“And?”
“There are precedents.”
Informal ones.
A boss accepting a wife’s son fully into the house.
Giving him the family name socially before anything formal.
Training him beside blood children.
Over time, captains stop asking which line he came from.
I understood.
Not paperwork.
Custom.
Habit.
Visibility.
Exactly what Valentina had been building.
Chair.
Bedroom.
Photographs.
Proximity.
“She wanted the family to see him as my son.”
Russo corrected:
“She wanted the family to see him as your primary child.”
Different.
Worse.
I looked toward Marcus.
“And your role?”
He leaned back.
“My nephew would need someone who understands the organization.”
There.
The reward.
If Ethan became central, Marcus became indispensable.
Not boss.
Something quieter.
Uncle to the boy everyone expected to rise.
Permanent access.
Permanent influence.
I looked at him.
“You were building yourself a future through an eight-year-old.”
He smiled bitterly.
“And you build yours through Ruby.”
“No.”
I leaned forward.
“I am trying very hard not to.”
Silence.
That distinction mattered.
I had not named Ruby heir.
Not promised her command.
Not arranged captains around her.
She was my daughter.
That was all.
Apparently that was already too much for men who wanted the future settled while children still needed help tying shoes.
Mercer spoke again.
“There’s another issue.”
Of course.
“What?”
“Serena.”
My jaw tightened.
“What about my wife?”
“Your first wife.”
Valentina looked away.
Mercer continued.
“Her people still have influence.”
Serena came from the Bellanti family.
Old allies.
Three respected capos had been loyal to her father before he died.
Ruby represented that connection.
Ethan did not.
I understood.
This was not simply male versus female.
It was factions.
If Ruby grew into the family, Serena’s old network might strengthen around her.
If Ethan became central, Marcus’s branch gained the future.
Children turned into maps of adult ambition.
Disgusting.
I looked around the table.
“From this moment forward, neither child’s name is used in succession discussions.”
Marcus laughed.
“You cannot stop people thinking.”
“No.”
May you like
I held his gaze.
“But I can make speaking through children expensive.”
