Supreme Authority

Chapter 9

The Cavendish house on Elm Ridge was lit up like a ship.

Every window glowed. Cars lined the long drive all the way to the gate. Inside, the old stone walls were warm with candlelight, and a crystal chandelier hung over a dining table long enough to seat thirty.

Beverly sat at the head of it in a dark green dress, her silver horse-head cane leaning against her chair. Tonight she looked like a queen receiving taxes.

One by one, the family came up to lay their gifts before her.

Carter went first, Chloe's brother from the main branch. A bottle of cognac older than his father, eighty thousand dollars, he told the whole room twice.

Then Chloe, glittering, on the arm of her fiancé, Blake Turner.

"Grandma, this is from Blake and me." She opened a velvet box. Inside lay a diamond brooch in the shape of a little horse. "To match your cane. One hundred and twenty thousand dollars."

"Oh!" Beverly laughed out loud. "Oh, Chloe. You always know what I like."

Everyone clapped.

Brenda's gift, a cashmere shawl from the mall, was set quietly at the far end of the table. Nobody mentioned it.

Then every head turned toward the door.

Alexander stood there beside Sophia. He wore the same wrinkled shirt as yesterday. His hands were empty.

The room went quiet.

At the far side of the table, Victoria sat with Grant Price, a glass of red wine in her hand. She did not look surprised. She looked pleased.

"Well," Chloe said brightly. "And what did our new cousin-in-law bring for Grandma? Oh. Nothing." She tilted her head. "Of course. What could he bring? The floor he sleeps on?"

A ripple of laughter ran around the table.

Blake laughed too. But his eyes kept sliding toward Sophia, and his laugh was a little too loud. Chloe's fiancé had wanted Sophia for years. Everyone at this table knew it except Chloe.

"Grandma," Sophia said quickly, "we came to wish you a happy birthday. That's all."

"Did I ask you to speak?" Beverly said.

Sophia went quiet.

Married yesterday. On Beverly's own order, to bury a shame. And tonight, the whole family was looking at him as if he were the shame.

"Why is he even here?" somebody muttered down the table.

"I was invited," Alexander said. "Your grandmother's birthday. The whole branch."

"The whole branch," Chloe repeated. "Not the whole trash."

More laughter.

Alexander said nothing. He thought of his mother's burnt cookies. His father at the window. Sophia's folded dollars in his pocket.

For them, he could stand here all night.

And there were two hundred thousand dollars in his jacket. Let them laugh. He wanted to see who laughed the loudest.

They were fighting over brooches and bottles and who sat closest to an old woman. Where he had been, great masters fought to the death over a single herb that could add a hundred years to a life.

This family would not even be allowed in the room.

One day they would be begging him for a seat.

Then a chair scraped.

Derek stood up. White tape crossed the middle of his face, and both his eyes were ringed purple and yellow. He looked like a raccoon that had lost a fight.

"I've been waiting all day for this," Derek said. "Victoria told you. You hit me in the street like an animal. So here's the deal. On your knees. Right here, in front of Grandma and everyone. Say you're sorry."

"And if I don't?"

"Then my sister calls the police, and you spend Grandma's birthday in a cell." Derek grinned under the tape. "Your choice, cousin."

Every eye at the table went to Alexander.

Beverly's cane struck the floor once.

"Derek," she said coldly. "Not at my table."

"Grandma, he broke my nose!"

"I said not at my table."

"Then outside. After dessert." Derek turned back to Alexander. "Well?"

Alexander looked at him for a long, quiet moment. The same fool who had stamped on eighty million dollars yesterday, and he didn't even know it.

"Your nose still has my handprint on it," he said. "Do you want a matching one?"

Derek took a step back without meaning to.

Somebody down the table snorted, then quickly turned it into a cough.

Derek's face went red under the bruises. "You think you're funny?"

"No," Alexander said. "I think you're standing too close."

Derek sat down very fast.

At the far end of the table, Victoria set her wine glass down with a small, sharp click. She was not pleased anymore.

Beverly raised one hand. The room fell silent.

She looked at Alexander for a long time, from his empty hands to his wrinkled shirt. Then she looked at Sophia beside him.

"Sophia," she said. "Come here."

Sophia stepped forward slowly.

"You've had one night to see what you married," Beverly said. "A man who comes to my birthday with nothing in his hands. A man who brawls in the street with your own cousin. A man the whole city is laughing at."

"Grandma..."

"I am not finished." Beverly's eyes were like ice. "I made a mistake yesterday. I will fix it tonight."

She folded her hands on the silver horse head.

"Divorce him, Sophia. And I will find you a proper husband before the end of the month."

A proper husband. Alexander knew what that meant in this family. Some rich old man who wanted a young Cavendish wife, and would pay the family well for her. Chloe was too precious to give away. Sophia was the cheap one.

The whole table held its breath.

Brenda grabbed Danny's arm under the table so hard that he winced.

Sophia stood very still. Her hand found the empty place on her finger where the silver ring had been, before Derek tore it off.

Then she lifted her chin.

"No, Grandma," she said. "I won't divorce him."

Nobody moved.

"What did you say to me?" Beverly asked softly.

"I said no." Sophia's voice shook, but she did not stop. "You made me marry him in front of everyone. I said yes in front of everyone. I'm not taking it back because he came without a present."

"Then hear me," Beverly said. "From tonight, your branch eats in the kitchen. With the staff. Your mother, your father, you, and him."

Brenda made a sound like a kettle.

"Fine," Sophia said. "Then we'll eat in the kitchen."

She reached back without looking and found Alexander's hand.

For one second, the whole long table was silent.

Then something small and bright flew through the candlelight.

A coin hit the floor, bounced once, and rolled to a stop against Alexander's shoe.