Chapter 7
Marcus asked to speak without Katherine present.
I allowed it.
Not as mercy.
Information.
When the door closed, he sat across from me.
“I didn’t know she planned to keep Clara away from you.”
I stared.
“You wrote relocate immediately.”
“For one night.”
“You never asked why.”
He looked down.
No.
That was the pattern.
Every conspirator knew enough to participate and deliberately not enough to feel responsible.
“What did you think happened after?”
“You wake. We tell you the captains lost confidence. You step back for a few weeks.”
“And if I refuse?”
Silence.
“Marcus.”
He rubbed his face.
“Mother said you’d understand once you saw the vote.”
There.
Vote.
Not formal paperwork.
Family allegiance.
Hands in a room.
Old tradition.
I knew it.
A temporary majority of senior capos could freeze a boss’s commands if they believed he was medically compromised.
Designed decades ago for illness.
Rarely used.
Katherine intended to manufacture the condition that activated it.
“You were going to call the incapacity council.”
Marcus nodded.
“How many men?”
“Seven committed.”
“Out of?”
“Twelve.”
Enough.
Barely.
“And who chaired it?”
“Katherine.”
Of course.
“Then you became acting head.”
His jaw tightened.
“Yes.”
I sat back.
Simple.
Elegant.
No murder necessary.
Make me ill.
Produce confusion.
Move Clara.
Call old procedure.
Place Marcus in my chair before I can defend myself.
“And when I recovered?”
He looked away.
“Mother said you would look unstable if you fought too hard.”
I almost smiled.
Perfect trap.
Resistance becomes evidence.
Anger becomes incapacity.
Love for my daughter becomes obsession.
Everything I did afterward proves their original claim.
I looked at Marcus.
“You understood this.”
“Yes.”
“And still joined.”
“Yes.”
At least truth.
“Why?”
He stared at me.
“Because I thought I deserved more.”
There.
Finally.
Not tradition.
Not stability.
Ambition.
“You thought thirty-one was too young for me.”
“Yes.”
“You thought forty made you wiser.”
“Yes.”
I nodded.
“And yet you let your mother use a three-year-old.”
May you like
His face changed.
That was the first argument he could not answer with rank.
