Chapter 3
I returned downstairs alone.
Francesca was seated now.
Vincent beside her.
Bianca stood near Mason.
No one spoke.
I took my place at the head of the table.
“Who have you told?”
My mother answered:
“About what?”
I laughed once.
“Try again.”
Her face hardened.
Then Vincent said:
“Several capos.”
There.
“How many?”
“Four.”
Mason stared at his grandfather.
Apparently even he had not known.
“What did you tell them?”
Francesca folded her hands.
“That Caleb will always need substantial support.”
True.
Potentially.
Depending on what support meant.
“And?”
“That Mason is the logical person to provide stability.”
There.
The phrase.
Stability.
The word powerful families use when they want control to sound benevolent.
“Did you tell them Caleb agreed?”
“No.”
“Did you tell them he didn’t?”
Silence.
I leaned back.
“That is called removing the inconvenient part.”
Bianca stepped forward.
“You know Caleb needs help.”
“Yes.”
My voice stayed calm.
“He needs help with some things.”
Then:
“So do you.”
Her face tightened.
“So do I.”
I looked at Vincent.
“So does he.”
Then Francesca.
“So do you.”
No one liked that.
Good.
“Needing support does not create ownership.”
Francesca’s eyes flashed.
“You’re being emotional.”
There.
Classic.
A mother objecting to her disabled adult son being assaulted and stripped of agency was emotional.
A grandmother tying him to a chair was strategy.
I smiled faintly.
“You staged violence against my son to demonstrate that he can be dominated.”
Her expression changed.
“That is not what I—”
“Mason said it.”
Silence.
Then I asked the real question.
“Why does Mason need to be the one?”
My mother looked toward Bianca.
Bianca looked away.
Family choreography.
Then Vincent answered.
“Because he’s family.”
Not enough.
“So is Caleb.”
No answer.
I waited.
Finally Francesca said:
“Because people will accept him.”
There.
Mason.
Male.
Non-disabled.
Older in presentation.
Easy for traditional men to understand.
May you like
Caleb would require them to adjust.
Francesca had decided the family should adjust Caleb instead.
