Chapter 7
I sent for every senior capo still in the city.
Mother laughed when she heard.
“You're proving my point.”
“How?”
“One domestic inconvenience and suddenly you summon half the family.”
I stared at her.
“My wife was unconscious.”
“She fainted.”
“You withheld food.”
“She disobeyed.”
“You took her newborn.”
“She needed motivation.”
The lack of shame made everything easier.
No confusion left.
No excuse.
Victor leaned against the window.
“You won't like what the capos say.”
I looked at him.
“You sound confident.”
“I am.”
“Good.”
That bothered him.
I turned to Clara.
“Tell me everything before they arrive.”
Mother scoffed.
“Oh, this should be good.”
I looked at her.
“Leave.”
“No.”
Two bodyguards stepped toward her.
Her face changed.
“Daniel.”
“Leave.”
She stared at Clara.
Then smiled.
“You see?”
Her voice turned poisonous.
“He'll resent you for this.”
Clara flinched.
Mother kept going.
“Not tonight.”
She tilted her head.
“But eventually.”
“Mother.”
She ignored me.
“Men like Daniel don't forgive women who make them choose blood against blood.”
I stepped between them.
“She didn't make me choose.”
Evelyn laughed.
“She existed.”
That sentence told me more than anything else.
Clara had never needed to do anything.
Her existence threatened Mother's control.
Mother finally left under guard.
Victor stayed.
I wanted him to hear.
Clara looked exhausted.
I sat beside her.
“You don't have to tell me everything now.”
“Yes.”
Her voice was soft.
“I do.”
I held her hand.
She began with the first day home.
Mother took Noah from her before she had even changed out of hospital clothes.
“She said I smelled like medicine.”
Clara almost smiled.
Not because it was funny.
Because it was absurd.
“She told me no Carter baby should sleep beside weakness.”
My jaw tightened.
“The next morning, she woke me at five.”
“For what?”
“Breakfast.”
“To eat?”
Clara shook her head.
“To make it.”
Victor laughed from across the room.
I looked at him.
“What?”
He shrugged.
“Millions of women cook after birth.”
I stood.
Clara squeezed my hand.
“Stay.”
I sat.
She continued.
“When I said I couldn't stand long, Evelyn said…”
Her voice broke.
“What?”
Clara looked toward the door.
Then repeated it.
“Pain is what lazy women call responsibility.”
I closed my eyes.
Clara continued.
“She made me serve Victor and three men.”
“What men?”
Victor stopped smiling.
I looked at him.
Clara named them.
Raymond Pierce.
Gavin Lowe.
Anthony Merrill.
Three associates.
All known crescent sympathizers when my father was alive.
I turned toward Victor.
“You held meetings here.”
He shrugged.
“Dinner.”
“In my house.”
“Yes.”
“With my wife serving six days postpartum.”
He smiled.
“She needed something useful to do.”
I wanted to hit him.
I didn't.
Not yet.
Clara continued.
“They talked about you.”
Victor's face changed.
“What did they say?”
She swallowed.
“They said once Daniel chose the woman, the chair would be empty.”
Silence.
I looked at Victor.
He stared back.
“What chair?”
Nothing.
Clara answered.
“Yours.”
The room went cold.
Victor laughed.
“She's drugged.”
Clara flinched.
He pointed at her.
“She can't even remember whether she ate.”
I stood.
Victor smiled.
“Look at her.”
His voice turned cruel.
“Barely awake. Crying every ten minutes.”
I walked toward him.
“She remembers your men.”
“Maybe Marissa fed her names.”
“No.”
Clara's voice came stronger.
“They said Raymond would take the east crews.”
Victor's smile vanished.
“Gavin would get the river warehouses.”
He stopped breathing.
“And Victor would run the family until Noah was old enough.”
Silence.
Not permanently.
Interesting.
I stared at Victor.
May you like
He wasn't planning merely to replace me.
He was planning to make my infant son the excuse for it.
