Chapter 7
Elena asked to speak with Dominic alone.
He refused.
Donna stayed.
Michael stayed.
Too many secrets had already survived because rooms were kept too small.
Elena stood near the fireplace.
“My husband Samuel did more than hide Michael.”
Dominic waited.
“He worked for Silas.”
Michael stared.
“What?”
“At first.”
Elena continued.
“Samuel believed Silas was trying to save the family from Richard.”
Dominic’s face hardened.
“Was Father that bad?”
Donna looked away.
Elena answered.
“Richard was powerful.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“No.”
Elena met his eyes.
“He was cruel.”
Dominic almost laughed.
This was not news.
“He punished disloyalty.”
“He punished suspicion.”
Different thing.
“He sometimes made men disappear because he thought they might betray him.”
Donna closed her eyes.
Dominic looked toward her.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“How many?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did Silas?”
“Yes.”
“So maybe Silas opposed him for a reason.”
Elena nodded.
“He did.”
The room changed.
Antagonists were easier when their motives were empty.
Silas’s were not.
Elena continued.
“Silas believed Richard had turned the family into something rotten.”
“And he wanted Adrian to replace him.”
“Yes.”
“Adrian agreed?”
“At first.”
Dominic stared.
His older half-brother had chosen Silas.
“Then?”
“Adrian saw what Silas was becoming.”
Michael asked:
“What was he becoming?”
Elena looked at him.
“Worse.”
Silas opposed Richard’s cruelty.
Then began building his own system based on absolute obedience.
He called his men Shepherds.
Not because they protected sheep.
Because everyone else was expected to become one.
“He trained them to humiliate people,” Elena said. “Break routines. Break pride. Make someone grateful when pain stopped.”
Dominic looked at the leash.
Hattie dragging Donna.
Not random cruelty.
An imitation.
“Silas taught her.”
Elena nodded.
“Or someone taught Hattie what he taught them.”
Michael looked sick.
Dominic continued.
“What happened to Adrian?”
Elena hesitated.
Donna whispered:
“Tell him.”
“After Richard died, Adrian disappeared.”
“Dead?”
“No.”
“You know.”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Samuel helped him escape.”
Dominic stared.
“So Samuel betrayed Silas.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Adrian refused to take your father’s chair.”
“Why?”
Elena looked toward Donna.
“Because Adrian believed Richard’s murder would destroy the family if he returned.”
Dominic laughed bitterly.
“So he protected us by disappearing.”
Elena’s eyes hardened.
“No.”
She had heard the contempt.
“He protected himself.”
That honesty made the story cleaner.
Adrian did not sacrifice nobly.
He fled.
“Where did he go?”
“I never knew.”
“Did Samuel?”
“Yes.”
“Then Silas killed him.”
“Yes.”
“Before Samuel told you?”
Elena shook her head.
Dominic’s eyes narrowed.
“Where is Adrian?”
“I don’t know now.”
“Then.”
“New Orleans.”
“How long?”
“Three years.”
“And after?”
“Gone.”
Dominic paced.
Silas had lost Elise.
Then Adrian.
Blamed Richard.
Maybe Dominic.
Maybe Donna.
“What does Silas want now?”
Michael spoke.
“Me.”
Dominic looked at him.
Michael’s voice hardened.
“He told Hattie I was the son Richard should have chosen.”
Dominic almost laughed.
“He told you?”
“Once.”
“When?”
Michael’s face changed.
“Two weeks ago.”
“You met him.”
“Yes.”
Dominic crossed the room.
Michael stood.
“I was going to tell you.”
“When? After Mother starved?”
Michael took the accusation.
“I wanted to see him.”
“Why?”
“To know whether the memories were real.”
“And?”
Michael looked toward the floor.
“They were.”
“What did he say?”
“That he trained me because Richard ignored me.”
True enough to wound.
“He said Adrian was weak.”
“Because he left.”
“Yes.”
“And me?”
“He called you Richard’s copy.”
Dominic smiled coldly.
“Original.”
Michael looked up.
“He said if I helped him get the key, he would show me where Adrian is.”
Dominic stopped.
“Adrian is alive.”
“Silas says so.”
“Where?”
“Wouldn’t tell me.”
Dominic looked toward Donna.
She had gone pale.
Elena whispered:
“If Adrian is alive…”
Dominic finished:
“Then Silas isn’t coming only for revenge.”
Michael looked at him.
“What else?”
May you like
Dominic’s voice lowered.
“He’s rebuilding the succession fight Richard died trying to prevent.”
