Supreme Authority

Chapter 10

Carter leaned back in his chair, smiling.

"For your next wedding ring," he said. "Since the last one ended up in the dirt."

The whole table burst out laughing.

Chloe laughed until she had to hold Blake's arm. Even Margaret smiled behind her napkin.

Sophia's hand went tight in Alexander's.

He let go of it gently, bent down, and picked up the coin.

It was a quarter. Cheap. Shiny. He turned it over once in his fingers.

"Thank you, Carter," he said. "I'll keep it."

"Keep it?" Carter snorted. "It's the only money you've got."

"Then I'd better keep it safe," Alexander said, and slipped it into his shirt pocket.

At the far end of the table, Victoria set down her glass.

"Enough jokes," she said. "Derek has waited long enough. You know the price, Alexander. I told you on the phone."

"Remind me."

"Two hundred thousand dollars. Tonight." She did not even look at him. She looked at her nails. "Or you get down on your knees in front of my grandmother, and you beg my brother to forgive you. Now."

"And if I can't pay?"

"Then you kneel." Victoria smiled. "We both know you can't pay. You have a quarter and a floor to sleep on."

The laughter came again, softer and crueler.

Alexander nodded slowly.

Then he reached inside his jacket, took out a fat brown envelope, and set it on the white tablecloth in front of Beverly. Right next to the diamond horse brooch.

He put Carter's quarter on top of it.

"Two hundred thousand," he said. "In cash. For a nose that was already ugly."

Nobody laughed.

Nobody even breathed.

Chloe's mouth stayed open, half a laugh still stuck in it. Carter's smile slid off his face like butter off a hot knife.

Beverly reached out with one hand, lifted the flap of the envelope, and looked inside. Thick bundles of hundred-dollar bills, wrapped in bank paper.

Her eyebrows went up. Just a little.

"Count it if you like," Alexander said to Victoria. "It's all there. Every bill."

Victoria stared at the envelope. For the first time all night, she had nothing to say.

Derek did not wait.

He came around the table fast, grabbed the envelope off the cloth, and held it up over his head like a trophy.

"Finally!" he crowed. "Two hundred thousand! You see, Grandma? I told you he'd pay!" He laughed, high and wild. "All I did was stamp on his stupid ring, and now he pays me two hundred thousand! Best day of my life!"

The room went dead silent.

Derek kept laughing for two more seconds before he noticed.

Then he stopped.

Beverly was looking at him. Not at Alexander. At him.

"Stamp on it?" she said.

"I... Grandma, I mean..."

"Your mother told me," Beverly said slowly, "that you were giving the ring back to Sophia. Nicely. And that he attacked you for nothing."

Across the table, Margaret had gone white as her napkin.

Beverly stood up.

She walked around the table, slowly, her cane tapping on the floor with every step. The whole room watched her. She stopped in front of Derek and held out her hand.

Derek stared at it. Then he put the envelope in it.

"I was sitting in my car outside the government office," Beverly said. "I saw everything, Derek. I saw you twist that ring off Sophia's finger. I saw you try to steal it, in front of the whole street. And then you stamped on it."

"Grandma, I was only..."

"I said nothing at dinner. I wanted to see who would lie to me at my own table." She did not raise her voice. She did not need to. "This is on you. Your mistake. Not his."

Derek opened his mouth. Shut it. Looked at his mother. Looked at Victoria.

"Sit down," Beverly said.

Derek went back to his chair and sat down very carefully, as if the chair might hit him too.

Then Victoria stood up.

"Grandma." Her voice was calm and cold. "That money belongs to me."

Every head turned.

"The divorce contract," Victoria said. "Whoever cheats gets nothing. Everything he had became mine. If he hid two hundred thousand dollars from the settlement, then it's mine by law. Give it to me."

For a moment, Alexander just looked at her.

Then he laughed.

It was not loud. But in that silent room, it sounded like a slap.

"Everything under my name is yours, Victoria," he said. "You made very sure of that. Take it. Enjoy it."

"Then..."

"But everything under my parents' name?" He shook his head. "For that, you'll have to fight a lot harder. And I believe you will never win."

"And this?" Victoria pointed at the envelope in Beverly's hand. "Where did this come from?"

"This?" Alexander gave a faint smile. "This is funded by money I stashed in a cave you know nothing about. Feel free to have your lawyers waste their time trying to find it. And for the record, that money belonged to your grandmother, not you. It's in her hands now. Good luck getting it out."

Victoria's face went red, then white. Her knuckles were tight around the stem of her glass.

Beverly looked at Alexander for a long, long time. At his wrinkled shirt. At his calm eyes.

Then her eyes went back to the envelope. Cash, from a man with nothing. She was already wondering where the rest was.

Slowly, she nodded.

"You seem to have a little something to keep after all," she said.

She set the envelope down on the tablecloth in front of him, next to Carter's quarter.

"Fine. Sophia can sit here with us. Just for today."

Sophia's breath caught. Brenda nearly fell off her chair.

Then Victoria's phone buzzed on the table.

She glanced at the screen, and something changed in her face. She stood up quickly and turned away.

"Grandpa?" she said. "Yes. Yes, I'm at Grandma's birthday. What is it?"

Her grandfather, the old general. Beverly had divorced him years ago, and nobody at this table said his name.

She listened. Her free hand pressed flat against the table.

"Tomorrow? A family lunch?" A pause. Her voice went very careful. "Him? Why would you want him there?"

She lowered the phone slowly and looked at Alexander.

"My grandfather," she said, "demands your presence at lunch tomorrow."

She leaned over the table and spoke quietly, so only he could hear.

"And you will keep your mouth shut about the divorce. The old man is fragile. If the truth breaks him, his blood is on your hands. Am I making myself clear?"

"I'm not showing up," Alexander said coldly. "Our marriage is dead."

"Refuse me, and I'll walk into his room and tell him you and Sophia carried on behind my back. Let's find out how merciful an old general is when he hears his granddaughter was humiliated."

"My fault, is it?" Alexander scoffed. "Rich, coming from a woman who already has someone warming her bed."

"I'll introduce Grant to Grandfather on my own terms," Victoria said. "So sit up straight, swallow your pride, and behave."

He had a body to rebuild, a fortune to grow and four hundred years of power to win back. One lunch with the Cavendish family would not slow him down.

If anything, it would be fun to watch them try.

Alexander said nothing. He would go to that lunch, for Sophia's sake. But not to behave.