Chapter 4
Silas came to the estate before I summoned him.
That meant he still believed he could control the conversation.
He entered my library in a dark suit.
No fear.
No apology.
Just disappointment.
“You called me from Gwen’s phone.”
“Yes.”
He looked toward the window.
“Then tonight became unfortunate.”
Unfortunate.
My favorite word from guilty old men.
“Peter was rehearsing my funeral.”
Silas sighed.
“That was excessive.”
Not wrong.
Excessive.
Important distinction.
I poured no drink.
Offered no seat.
“What was supposed to happen in the cellar?”
He smiled faintly.
“You think I’ll answer that?”
“No.”
I stepped closer.
“I think you’ll answer why.”
That changed him.
Motive is harder to defend than method.
Silas believed Blackwell had become too dependent on me personally.
Not the office.
Me.
Captains called me directly.
Younger associates bypassed elders.
I had removed three hereditary privileges and ended the practice of assigning family businesses automatically to male relatives.
Silas called that centralization.
I called it accountability.
Then Peter was born.
A son.
Instead of grooming him publicly, I kept him away from operational life.
No photographs beside captains.
No child-sized signet.
No “future boss” speeches.
Silas hated it.
“You’re making him ordinary.”
“He is a child.”
“He is Blackwell.”
There.
The disease.
A surname becoming assignment.
Silas believed if I died while Peter was still young, the family could restore the old structure.
Miles would serve as steward.
A council of six elders would advise him.
Peter would eventually inherit a preserved Blackwell.
Meaning their Blackwell.
Not mine.
“And Gwendolyn?”
“Family.”
“And Miles?”
“Useful.”
That word bothered me.
Not beloved.
Not rightful.
Useful.
I understood before Miles did.
Silas did not see him as successor.
He saw him as bridge.
A temporary adult whose authority expired when Peter became old enough.
Miles had risked everything for a chair designed to disappear beneath him.
I looked toward the library door.
Miles stood there.
May you like
He had heard.
His face said the rest.
