Chapter 4
Victor came to the mansion that evening.
He did not bring excuses.
Good.
“I should have asked you.”
“Yes.”
“I didn’t.”
“Why?”
He looked ashamed.
“Because Declan said you were avoiding the issue.”
“What issue?”
“That Finn is your only child.”
I stared.
“And?”
“That some men worry the organization becomes vulnerable if succession depends entirely on him.”
There it was.
Not concern for Finn.
Concern for men decades older than him imagining what power might look like twenty years from now.
I leaned back.
“Did I announce Finn as my successor?”
“No.”
“Did I say a three-year-old has organizational authority?”
“No.”
“Then who created the issue?”
Victor looked toward Declan.
Exactly.
Declan had invented a future crisis.
Then offered himself as the adult solution.
“What did he propose?”
Victor hesitated.
“That if Finn remained unsuitable…”
My jaw tightened.
“Unsuitable?”
“…you should formalize Declan as interim family successor.”
Silence.
My husband had not merely been frightening my son.
He had been constructing proof that my child was weak so men would see Declan as necessary.
I looked at Victor.
“And you watched.”
“Yes.”
That honesty kept him in the room.
Not safe.
Just in the room.
I turned to Declan.
“You needed Finn to fail.”
His face hardened.
“I needed them to see reality.”
“No.”
May you like
I shook my head.
“You remote-controlled reality until it looked useful to you.”
