“No,” Julian replied. “The dock attack pulls his loyal men west. Vale stays here. He thinks the house is secure.”
Nora set down the towel without making a sound.
Julian continued, “Breakfast is cleaner. Elsie carries the tray. Cream goes in the coffee. Slow enough to look natural, fast enough to finish before his doctor arrives.”
Barrett chuckled. “You trust the maid?”
“I trust people to underestimate her. She watches dirt, not poison.”
Nora’s throat closed.
Julian’s voice dropped colder.
“When Vale is dead, the crews choose me. The northern families back me. The old man from Bay Ridge gets his shipping lanes. No more paranoia. No more broken glasses. No more empire balanced on the temper of one half-mad king.”
Barrett said, “And the sisters?”
“After the funeral, send them away. Or bury them with the rest of the trash. I don’t care.”
The voices faded.
Nora waited until her legs obeyed her again.
Then she ran.
Not beautifully. Not quickly in the way men in movies run. She ran with one hand braced against the wall, breath tearing through her chest, shoes slapping the servant stairs. She nearly fell twice. She did not stop.
Elsie was in the kitchen washing a heavy pot when Nora burst in and locked the door behind her.
Elsie turned.
“What happened?”
Nora’s face was white.
“Julian is going to poison him.”
For the first time in years, Elsie looked afraid.
Nora told her everything.
When she finished, the only sound was rain against the windows.
“We have to warn him,” Nora said.
“If we go now, Julian’s men control the hall outside the study,” Elsie replied. “We won’t reach him.”
“Then we wake Theo.”
“Theo answers to whoever holds the gun closest to his ribs.”
Nora pressed both hands to her mouth.
Elsie looked toward the pantry, then at the silver breakfast service waiting to be polished.
Something in her face hardened.
“We do what they expect,” she said.
Nora stared at her.
Elsie picked up the coffee pot.
“We serve breakfast.”
The next morning, the mansion felt like a loaded gun.
Julian Crane stood near the kitchen island in a charcoal suit, reading messages on his phone. Barrett Knox leaned against the doorframe. Two unfamiliar men waited in the hallway.
Elsie prepared the tray.
Eggs. Toast. Coffee. Cream.
Her hands did not shake.
Nora stood at the sink, washing the same pan for five minutes.
Julian stepped closer.
“Allow me.”
Elsie did not move.
Julian took the small silver pitcher, turned his body just enough to hide his hand from the hallway, and emptied a clear liquid into the cream.
Then he smiled.
“Take it up while it’s hot.”
Elsie lifted the tray.
Nora felt the whole world narrow to the sound of her sister’s footsteps.
Adrian’s breakfast room overlooked the gray ocean. Rain streaked the glass. He sat at the table alone, reading a report with a pistol beside his coffee cup.
He looked up when Elsie entered.
Something almost gentle crossed his face.
“Morning, Elsie.”
She set the tray down.
Julian appeared in the doorway behind her.
Barrett lingered farther back, one hand inside his jacket.
Elsie took the coffee pot and filled Adrian’s cup.
Then she picked up the cream.
“Mr. Vale,” she said clearly, “do not drink this.”
Adrian’s eyes sharpened.
Julian cursed.
Barrett drew his gun.
Elsie moved first.
She threw the silver pitcher straight at Barrett’s face. Cream splashed across his eyes. He fired blindly. The bullet shattered the window behind Adrian.
Adrian lunged sideways.
Elsie grabbed the breakfast cart and shoved it hard across the room. It slammed into Barrett’s knees, knocking him forward. Nora burst through the side door with a cast-iron skillet in both hands and swung with every ounce of fury in her body.
The skillet hit Barrett’s wrist.
His gun dropped.
Nora kicked it under the sideboard.
Julian drew his own weapon, but Adrian had already rolled behind the dining table. He fired once. Julian’s shoulder exploded backward. The underboss stumbled into the hall, screaming for his men.
Theo appeared at the far end of the corridor, pale and shaking.
“I didn’t know,” he said. “Boss, I swear, I didn’t know.”
Adrian believed him.
Not because he was merciful.
Because he knew fear when he saw it.
Julian laughed through clenched teeth, clutching his bleeding shoulder.
“You think this ends with me?”
Adrian rose slowly, gun in hand.
“Who else?”
Julian smiled with blood on his teeth.
“Everyone tired of kneeling.”
The mansion alarm died.
Every light in the house went out.
Then emergency lamps flickered red along the walls.
From outside came the distant roar of engines.
Nora went to the window.
Black vehicles were coming through the rain.
Julian coughed and grinned.
“Bay Ridge is here. Thirty men. Maybe more. The dock attack was theater. The house is the real funeral.”