Chapter 4
Margaret recovered before anyone else.
“He belongs to a friend.”
David stared at her.
“What friend?”
Her eyes narrowed.
“You don't interrogate me.”
David’s jaw tightened.
For most of the evening they had moved as one.
Now the smallest fracture had appeared.
Vittorio let it widen.
“Who is the boy?”
Margaret looked toward him.
Her contempt returned.
“You think every child standing beside me becomes your business?”
“No.”
Vittorio’s voice remained calm.
“Only the ones whose coat is hidden beside a room used by my daughter’s husband to meet a rival family.”
Margaret’s lips pressed together.
Sarah’s eyes moved from the coat to David.
“Did you know?”
“No.”
His answer came immediately.
Honest enough to surprise her.
Margaret laughed.
“How touching.”
She looked toward Sarah.
“You finally found one thing your husband didn't lie to you about.”
Sarah flinched.
Margaret saw it.
And pressed harder.
“Don't look wounded, sweetheart.”
Her voice became almost affectionate.
“Women like you always want honesty until you discover how little your husbands actually think of you.”
David turned.
“Enough.”
Margaret slowly looked at him.
There was no maternal warmth.
Only warning.
“You're in no position to correct me.”
David’s nostrils flared.
Vittorio noticed.
Margaret had power over him too.
The boy remained unexplained.
Then one of Vittorio’s older capos spoke from the doorway.
“I've seen him.”
Everyone turned.
Paolo DeLuca had known Vittorio since both men were teenagers.
He looked at the coat.
“Calder estate.”
Vittorio’s eyes narrowed.
“When?”
“Last winter.”
Paolo took a slow breath.
“He was with Lucian Calder.”
The room became still.
David looked toward Margaret.
“You've been at Calder’s estate?”
She said nothing.
Sarah’s gaze sharpened.
“You told us you hadn’t spoken to them in years.”
Margaret’s chin lifted.
“I don't explain my friendships to girls half my age.”
Sarah’s face hardened.
Margaret smiled.
“There.”
She pointed.
“That little flash in your eyes.”
Her voice became more poisonous.
“That's what my son has been living with.”
Sarah stared.
“You provoke, question, pry—then run to Daddy when the room stops applauding you.”
Vittorio started forward.
Sarah caught his wrist.
“No.”
He stopped.
She looked at Margaret.
“Keep talking.”
Margaret’s smile faltered.
Sarah continued.
“You've spent years telling me I'm weak because I have my father.”
Her breathing was steady now.
“But every time someone asks you a question, you hide behind David.”
David looked toward his mother.
Margaret’s eyes chilled.
Sarah had finally insulted the right thing.
Her control.
The security chief returned from upstairs carrying a small wooden box.
Inside was the other half of the white stag medallion.
And a silver child’s bracelet engraved:
NOAH.
David stared.
“Noah?”
Margaret closed her eyes.
Only for a second.
Vittorio looked toward Paolo.
He knew something.
“What?”
Paolo hesitated.
Vittorio’s gaze hardened.
“Say it.”
Paolo’s voice lowered.
“Lucian Calder had a grandson named Noah.”
David looked back at his mother.
“That still doesn't explain why he called you Grandma.”
Margaret’s face went unreadable.
Then Paolo added:
“Noah’s mother died three years ago.”
A pause.
“Her name was Elise Mercer.”
David’s face changed completely.
Margaret looked at the floor.
Sarah whispered:
“Mercer?”
Paolo nodded.
“David’s older half-sister.”
May you like
David stopped breathing.
He had never known he had one.
