Chapter 11
Victoria finally admitted the larger plan.
Marcus was supposed to become permanent household second.
Not organization head.
Not yet.
Smaller.
Smarter.
Control schedules.
Estate access.
Staff.
Family events.
The spaces closest to me.
Why?
Because she believed whoever controlled my household eventually controlled what information reached me.
She was right about the mechanism.
She had proven it.
“You disappeared my daughter inside my own home to prove I needed Marcus managing my home.”
Victoria did not deny it.
“He understands Bellandi discipline.”
I looked at Marcus.
“He understands hiding things from me.”
“He understands protecting you from distraction.”
There.
Isabella was distraction.
Elena had been distraction.
Anything I loved enough to question tradition became distraction.
I finally saw the plan clearly.
They were not trying to replace Isabella as an heir.
They were trying to remove her influence from my daily life until Marcus once again became the person nearest to my decisions.
Power by proximity.
Old-fashioned.
May you like
Effective.
Until a child cried loudly enough behind a portrait.
