Gwen held her breath, watching Oscar carefully. He showed no sign of a guilty conscience as he adjusted the patch over his eye. “I had someone lob a bomb at me when I was leaving the bank one evening,” he said calmly. “Powerful men often make enemies.”

“Except last month I wasn’t a powerful man, I was just an ordinary welder from Philly.”

Then Oscar calmly said the last thing Gwen expected. “Gwen is the only one who’d stand to gain by your death,” he said casually. “Gwen, did you have anything to do with the shameful assault on Mr. Malone?”

“I did not!”

“It must have been the eighth-grade romantic rival,” Oscar said, but Liam wouldn’t let the topic drop.

“I think you’re wrong about Gwen being the only one who’d lose anything by my showing back up on the scene. Something about half your voting shares being up for grabs? And it might affect the merger with Carnegie Steel?”

Natalia choked on her muffin. It took a few moments to clear her throat, and she took a long drink of water before slamming her glass down to glare at her grandfather. “Are you going to let him have those shares?” she demanded. “A man who shows up out of the blue? We don’t know the first thing about Liam Malone other than that he is a man. At least I would know what to do with those votes. I’ve earned the right to have a say in the bank.”

“That’s not how the game is played,” Frederick said.

“Yes, I know,” Natalia snapped. “If Poppy produces the golden male child, the newborn will leapfrog right past me into a top place at the bank.”

“He won’t leapfrog past me,” Liam said. “Half of Oscar’s shares came from my father, and I want them back.”

“Liam, have you learned nothing since you’ve been here?” Frederick said from the head of the table. “You’re getting ahead of yourself.”

“Indeed,” Oscar said. “Even if you got those shares, it won’t make any difference. I will have unanimous consent from the rest of the shareholders to support the merger, so your ten percent won’t matter.”

Natalia still seemed annoyed. Gwen had never had any interest in the bank, but Natalia loved it. Watching Liam or a newborn child have the doors opened to them just because they were male must be galling.

Natalia looked at Frederick. “Is he right? Are you still firm in your decision to support the steel merger?”

Tension mounted as Frederick met her question with a gleam in his eye that seemed unnervingly ominous. “The chess pieces are moving,” he said. “The world is changing. Power is shifting. I will be very interested to see what happens next.”