Chapter 10
The deeper conspiracy was smaller than people expected.
No rival family.
No secret assassin.
No hidden outsider.
Just ambition.
Declan wanted formal standing.
Evelyn wanted her son recognized as more than the man married to Mara Savelli.
Three capos were willing to entertain the idea because they feared a future without an adult male successor.
That was enough.
Old prejudice did the rest.
They never said I could not lead.
I already did.
Instead they worried what came “after Mara.”
Meaning Finn.
Meaning a child.
Meaning uncertainty.
Declan offered certainty.
Adult.
Male.
Available now.
I looked at the men gathered around my table.
“You created a succession crisis because you were uncomfortable waiting for a three-year-old to grow up.”
Nobody answered.
Good.
“Finn is not your plan.”
Silence.
“He is my son.”
I looked at Declan.
“And my husband is not entitled to replace him simply because he is older.”
His face hardened.
“I built things beside you.”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“That gives me nothing?”
“It gives you credit for what you built.”
I leaned forward.
“Not ownership of what belongs to my child.”
There it was.
May you like
Declan wanted earned respect converted into inherited position.
When it did not happen naturally, he tried to manufacture proof that Finn should be moved aside.
