Chapter 4
Elias Mercer arrived before I summoned him.
That told me he already knew the plan had failed.
He walked into my study wearing a dark coat and the calm expression of a man who had spent decades letting louder people take blame.
Gloria was seated near the fireplace.
Vivienne remained upstairs with Noah.
Camille refused to leave her.
Good.
Elias looked at his sister.
Then at me.
“Family misunderstanding?”
I placed the phone on the table.
His expression did not move.
Too controlled.
“You were on the call.”
“No.”
I played the connection log.
Eleven minutes.
His number.
Silence.
Then he sighed.
“She shouldn’t have used her personal phone.”
Not denial.
Criticism of execution.
Useful.
“Why did you want Vivienne back in the Mercer house?”
Elias smiled.
“She’s my niece.”
“So?”
“So she belongs with people who understand her.”
I leaned forward.
“She married me.”
“Exactly.”
That word carried contempt.
Elias explained the Mercer family had weakened since Vivienne married Bellaro.
Not financially.
Politically.
Vivienne had been the bridge between several older branches.
People trusted her.
Liked her.
Listened to her.
When she married me, those relationships gradually shifted toward Bellaro events, Bellaro properties, Bellaro protection.
Elias called it absorption.
I called it marriage.
Then Noah was born.
A Bellaro son carrying Mercer blood.
To Elias, that created a problem.
If Noah grew up primarily Bellaro, the Mercer branch around Gloria would become secondary permanently.
“So you wanted Vivienne home.”
“Temporarily.”
I almost laughed.
There was that word.
“And Noah?”
Elias did not answer.
Gloria did.
“With his mother.”
Of course.
The baby was the anchor.
Make Vivienne look unstable.
Make me afraid she was unsafe around Noah.
Create conflict.
Then Gloria would offer to take Vivienne and the baby “home” while she recovered.
The Mercer family would regain both.
I looked at Elias.
“And if I refused?”
He smiled faintly.
“You wouldn’t.”
That confidence interested me.
“Why?”
“Because there are things about your wife you don’t know.”
Gloria closed her eyes.
May you like
Vivienne’s mother had already started losing control of her own conspiracy.
Good.
