Chapter 6
The South Market route was only part of it.
David wanted a seat.
Formal.
Permanent.
Inside DeLuca council.
Thomas Greer told me.
“He’s been sounding people out.”
I looked at him.
“How long?”
“Six months.”
“About what?”
“Whether allied family should have representation.”
Reasonable argument.
Again.
The Mercers were not fools.
They attached ambition to concerns that sounded legitimate.
David’s family had supplied men and logistics for years.
A formal allied seat could be defended.
“What did he say about Sarah?”
“That marriage already made him DeLuca-adjacent.”
I almost laughed.
Adjacency as qualification.
“And Emma?”
Thomas hesitated.
I stared.
“What?”
“He said his daughter tied the bloodlines permanently.”
There it was.
A three-year-old used as constitutional theory.
Not granddaughter.
Bridge.
Proof.
Claim.
“What did Margaret say?”
“That you were getting older.”
I smiled.
“Everyone is.”
Thomas almost smiled too.
Then:
“She said eventually you’d want someone younger handling daily matters.”
“And David volunteered.”
“Yes.”
Of course.
They did not plan to overthrow me.
Too dramatic.
Too dangerous.
They planned normalization.
Get South Market.
Get a council seat.
Use Sarah as legitimacy.
Use Emma as blood connection.
Then one day David standing beside me would no longer look strange.
That was the architecture.
Sarah’s resistance threatened more than his ego.
It threatened the path.
So pressure increased.
Then violence.
I looked at Thomas.
“Did anyone agree?”
“Some liked the idea of allied representation.”
Important.
Not necessarily David.
The concern could survive him.
I would not confuse disagreement with conspiracy.
But David had.
May you like
He assumed anyone questioning centralized DeLuca control belonged to his future faction.
That arrogance would cost him.
