Chapter 6
I sealed the estate.
Richard laughed when he heard the order.
“You can’t seal my house.”
I looked at him.
“Watch me.”
Six outer gates locked.
The driveway lights went dark.
Children and uninvolved guests moved upstairs.
Lily stayed with my captain.
She refused to leave the room entirely.
I did not force her.
Richard watched.
“That’s your problem.”
“What?”
“You ask children permission.”
“I respect boundaries.”
“They don’t know enough to have boundaries.”
Lily heard him.
I saw her fingers tighten around her handmade card.
The crushed one.
She had picked it up.
Smoothed it flat.
Still wanted it.
That hurt.
I turned to Daniel.
“What happens at nine?”
He looked toward Richard.
Again.
Always.
“Daniel.”
My husband whispered:
“They come for a meeting.”
“With whom?”
“Dad.”
“And me?”
Silence.
Richard smiled.
“You.”
I looked at him.
“What about me?”
“You were finally going to listen.”
“Meaning?”
Richard stepped closer.
“You secretly control men who should answer to Daniel.”
There.
He knew.
I looked at Daniel.
My husband looked ashamed.
Not because he had betrayed me.
Because Richard had said the embarrassing part aloud.
“You told him.”
Daniel whispered:
“I needed help.”
Richard laughed.
“My son came to me because his wife made him look like a servant.”
I stared at Daniel.
“Did I ever call you one?”
“No.”
“Did I remove your rank?”
“No.”
“Did I humiliate you publicly?”
His jaw tightened.
“No.”
Richard answered for him.
“You didn’t have to.”
He pointed at my signet ring.
“Men knew.”
The grievance was invisible until they fed it.
Daniel resented being underboss to his wife.
Richard resented a woman controlling the Hart organization.
The Calders had smelled both.
“What did you promise them?”
Daniel said nothing.
Richard answered.
“Access.”
“To?”
“Your crews.”
“And if I refused?”
Richard smiled.
“We had Lily.”
The room went silent.
My daughter looked up.
He didn’t even try to soften it.
Three years old.
Still useful.
Still leverage.
I walked toward him.
“You chained my daughter because you planned to bargain with her.”
Richard shrugged.
May you like
“She could breathe.”
That sentence ended any remaining doubt about what kind of man stood in front of me.
