The meeting went exactly as I could have predicted. The Nasts and the St. Clouds offered their help in our time of grief. We only had to tell them what we needed. Of course, in telling them, we’d reveal our weaknesses, which is what they really wanted to know. It turned into a thirty-minute mutual reassurance session. Thank you so much for the kind offer, but we’re doing fine. No, really, we’re fine. No, I mean it, we’re fine. Thirty minutes with my cell phone vibrating nonstop, messages piling up.

“I’m sorry,” I said finally. “But I really do have to get back to the investigation. My father has put me in charge—”

“Of finding your brothers’ killers?” Thomas Nast, the CEO, snorted. “Does he want the parties responsible found?”

Sean murmured something to his grandfather, who waved him off, making a face. But he didn’t continue. Thomas had never been known for his tact, yet he was only saying what the others were thinking.

“Seems your father is putting you in charge of a lot,” Thomas’s son Josef said. “The Cabals are concerned about that. Investing so much power in someone who’d like nothing more than to see this institution collapse…” He tugged at his tie, clearing his throat. “It has us questioning your father’s state of mind, Lucas. He’s suffered a great trauma. There are provisions in the inter-Cabal manifest for this sort of thing, should a CEO be incapacitated and no one able to step into his place—”

“Nice try, Josef.”

My father’s voice came from the doorway. I stood to vacate his chair, but he waved me back down. When I hesitated, I could feel all eyes on me. I sat, but edged the chair to the side, giving him a place to stand at the head of the table.

Condolences filled the room. Any other time, my father would have received them graciously. He was better at this game than anyone. But today he cut them off in midsentence.

“As you can see, I’m not incapacitated. I have placed Lucas in charge of the investigation, using my staff and my resources. I expect when the situation is resolved, you will call an inquest into the proceedings, and I will fully cooperate. As for daily operations, those are also under Lucas for the time being, but all his decisions are being forwarded to me for final approval. Is that acceptable?”

He gave the final word a twist of sarcasm. The younger members shifted in their seats, casting glances at their superiors, who knew enough to remain stone faced.

“It seems you have the short-term situation under control,” Thomas said.

My father’s hand tightened on my shoulder.

“However,” Thomas continued, “it is the long-term one that concerns us more.”

“I’m burying two of my sons tomorrow—”