Chapter 9
The next question was simple.
“Why?”
Walter looked offended.
“I already told you.”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“You told me Adam refused to step down.”
“That is why.”
“No.”
A father does not let his injured son die merely because of one argument unless the argument threatens something larger.
“What were you afraid Adam would do?”
Lydia said nothing.
Heather did.
“He was calling the capos.”
Walter turned on her.
“Heather.”
She laughed through tears.
“What does it matter now?”
I stared.
“Which capos?”
“Old council.”
The senior Miller men.
The same ones who later accepted me as head.
My stomach tightened.
“What was Adam telling them?”
Heather looked at me.
“That you were staying in control.”
Silence.
“He was removing Dad and Mom from operations.”
Walter’s face darkened.
There it was.
Not pride.
Not tradition.
Power.
Adam had made the decision they could not tolerate.
Heather continued:
“He said they’d interfered enough.”
Lydia scoffed.
“We built that family.”
“And Adam chose me.”
“He chose badly.”
“Because I’m a woman?”
“Because you weren’t one of us.”
I raised my signet ring.
“I became one.”
Lydia smiled.
“Jewelry doesn’t make blood.”
I looked at Louisa.
Then Lydia.
Apparently neither did biology.
“What was Adam going to do with Heather?”
She answered herself.
“Nothing.”
Walter corrected:
“He was removing her too.”
Heather glared.
“You said I could stay.”
“You became emotional.”
She stared at him.
I almost laughed.
Even now, he was using the same weapon on her.
Useful until inconvenient.
“What happened after Adam died?”
Walter spoke calmly.
“We protected the organization.”
“You lied.”
“We controlled panic.”
“You staged the crash as fatal at the scene.”
“It was fatal.”
“Hours later.”
He shrugged.
“Same ending.”
That sentence destroyed whatever remained between us.
Then Martin spoke.
“There’s something else.”
Walter closed his eyes.
I turned.
“What?”
“Adam left you a message.”
My breathing stopped.
“Where?”
Martin looked at Lydia.
She had gone pale.
“On his phone.”
I stared at her.
“You had Adam’s phone.”
Lydia said nothing.
May you like
Martin continued:
“And she still does.”
