Chapter 4
Ethan ordered the ballroom doors closed.
Victor laughed.
“You’re proving my point.”
“What point?”
“That you react before thinking.”
Ethan looked at him.
Victor smiled.
“You come home.”
“See one ugly scene.”
“Throw punches.”
“Lock doors.”
“Very dramatic.”
Grant smirked.
Vanessa recovered enough to join in.
“He always needs a villain.”
Then she looked toward Harper.
“Tonight he found one in a woman trying to raise his children.”
Harper lowered her eyes.
Vanessa smiled.
“You see?”
“She knows.”
Ethan turned toward her.
Vanessa kept going.
“They were spoiled.”
“They refused meals.”
“Cried at bedtime.”
“Asked for Claire every five minutes.”
Her voice sharpened.
“How long are adults supposed to stop living because four children worship a dead woman?”
Ethan became still.
Vanessa saw it.
Still continued.
“I taught them consequences.”
“Moldy bread?”
“They refused fresh food earlier.”
Harper whispered:
“No.”
Vanessa snapped toward her.
“Don’t lie.”
Harper jumped.
Ethan moved between them.
Vanessa rolled her eyes.
“There.”
“You reward it.”
Victor stepped forward.
“This is exactly why tonight was necessary.”
Ethan looked at him.
“Finally.”
Victor sighed.
“The senior men wanted to discuss continuity.”
“What continuity?”
“Leadership.”
The room went silent.
Ethan almost smiled.
“There it is.”
Victor continued.
“You’ve spent four months overseas.”
“New York crews wait days for decisions.”
“Your daughters barely recognize you.”
Grant nodded.
Vanessa smiled.
Victor spread his hands.
“People are asking whether the organization still has a present head.”
Ethan looked around.
“How many?”
Nobody answered.
“Raise a hand.”
Still nothing.
Victor’s confidence weakened.
Ethan continued.
“You brought them here for a vote.”
Victor’s jaw tightened.
“Not a vote.”
“A discussion.”
“What happens at midnight?”
Silence.
Then one elderly capo, Samuel Greer, finally spoke.
“Victor told us you were stepping back.”
Ethan looked at him.
“I told nobody that.”
Samuel’s face changed.
Victor immediately said:
“You implied it.”
“When?”
“Before Europe.”
“No.”
Ethan stared.
“Why did I go overseas?”
Victor frowned.
“Dock problems.”
“Which you reported.”
“Yes.”
Thomas entered quietly.
Ethan turned.
His security chief held a satellite phone.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“We checked the overseas emergency traffic.”
Victor’s expression changed.
Thomas continued.
“Three of the original calls came through relay numbers controlled by Caldwell domestic security.”
Silence.
Ethan looked at Victor.
“You created the crisis.”
Victor said nothing.
Grant stared.
Vanessa looked toward him.
Neither had known.
Good.
The conspiracy already had layers.
Ethan stepped closer.
“You sent me overseas.”
Victor’s voice remained calm.
“I gave you something useful to solve.”
“For four months?”
“You stayed.”
There.
Blame shifted again.
Ethan nodded.
“Yes.”
“I stayed.”
Then:
“Because I trusted you here.”
Victor’s expression changed.
That landed.
Ethan continued.
“You needed me gone long enough for my daughters to become evidence.”
Vanessa went pale.
Samuel looked confused.
“Evidence of what?”
Ethan turned.
“That I abandoned them.”
Silence.
Victor said nothing.
May you like
And Ethan finally saw the shape of the midnight toast.
Victor intended to prove Ethan was unfit using the damage Victor himself had helped create.
