Chapter 5
Nolan asked everyone to leave except me.
I allowed it.
The tasting room felt smaller once Vivian was gone.
My brother sat across from me without his capo pin.
I had removed it upstairs.
He stared at our father’s recorder.
“She told me Dad changed his mind.”
I said nothing.
“She said he recorded something sentimental near the end.”
Still nothing.
“She said you would eventually replace me because fathers always choose sons over brothers.”
My jaw tightened.
“My child isn’t even born.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
He looked at me.
Pain.
Anger.
Embarrassment.
Good.
Real things.
“I thought I had a few months.”
“For what?”
“To prove I was necessary.”
There.
Finally.
Not tradition.
Fear.
“What did proving it look like?”
He looked down.
“More crews.”
“Yes.”
“More security authority.”
“Yes.”
“More people reporting through me.”
I nodded.
“And Elise?”
His face changed.
“Mother said if Elise publicly supported me, the family would stop worrying about the baby changing the hierarchy.”
“So you let her be abused.”
His jaw tightened.
“I never touched her.”
I stared.
“That is your defense?”
“No.”
Better.
He rubbed both hands over his face.
“I knew about the food being withheld.”
“The bones?”
“Not until yesterday.”
I watched him.
Truth.
At least partly.
“What did you do yesterday?”
He said nothing.
“Nolan.”
“I told Mother to stop.”
“Then?”
“She said Elise was manipulating me.”
“And you left.”
“Yes.”
My anger sharpened.
“You left.”
He looked ashamed.
“I told myself I’d speak to her today.”
“After another dinner.”
“Yes.”
That was the cost of delayed courage.
Another plate.
Another bruise.
Another night.
I leaned back.
“Why attack me over the phone?”
He swallowed.
“Because the picture showed the table.”
“So?”
“Everyone was seated according to the Second Table.”
I frowned.
He explained.
The six relatives were not random witnesses.
Their chairs formed the core of Vivian’s faction.
They had been meeting in this hidden room for months.
The photograph did more than show bones.
It showed who had chosen which side.
May you like
That was why Nolan panicked.
My phone had captured the conspiracy in one frame.
