Chapter 4 - The Grandfather’s Choice
Frank Rossetti arrived the following morning.
He came alone.
That frightened Vivian more than if he had brought ten guards.
Rebecca met him at the door.
“This is private property.”
Frank smiled.
“So is half the city.”
“Not this house.”
Vivian appeared behind her.
“Let him in.”
Damon stood in the living room.
When Frank saw his son, disappointment crossed his face.
“You chose her.”
Damon answered, “I chose Leo.”
Frank laughed softly.
“You finally discovered fatherhood.”
Vivian placed the ring on the table but kept her hand over it.
“Why Olivia?”
Frank sat.
“Because she listens.”
“She’s nine.”
“And already understands loyalty better than either of you.”
Vivian stared at him.
“You terrified a seven-year-old to test loyalty?”
“I didn’t terrorize him.”
“You tied him to a post.”
“It was symbolic.”
That word made Vivian’s blood run cold.
“Symbolic of what?”
Frank looked at Damon.
“Consequences.”
Damon stepped forward.
“You used my son to threaten me?”
“I demonstrated what happens when an heir is weak.”
Vivian nearly lunged at him.
Rebecca stopped her with a glance.
Frank continued calmly.
“Leo cries. He hides. He lets other children push him around.”
“He’s seven,” Vivian said.
“My father put me to work at seven.”
“And apparently nobody taught you kindness.”
Frank’s eyes sharpened.
“The world doesn’t reward kindness.”
“Maybe your world doesn’t.”
“It’s the world that paid for everything you enjoy.”
Vivian looked around the modest house.
“Not here.”
For the first time, Frank seemed unsettled.
Vivian pushed the ring toward him.
“Why was this made?”
He looked at it.
“Because I needed Damon to understand that heirs can be replaced.”
Damon stared.
“You knew Olivia wasn’t mine.”
“Yes.”
“And you let me wonder?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because uncertainty motivates people.”
Damon laughed bitterly.
“You’re insane.”
Frank’s expression hardened.
“Be careful.”
“No. I’ve spent forty years being careful around you.”
Vivian watched father and son.
She suddenly understood that the birthday party had not begun this war.
It had merely exposed one that had existed for decades.
Frank had controlled Damon with money.
Approval.
Inheritance.
Fear.
Now he was attempting the same thing with Leo.
Vivian refused to let that happen.
“You’re never seeing Leo unsupervised again.”
Frank looked at her.
“You think you can remove him from this family?”
“I think I can protect him from you.”
“He carries my name.”
“He carries my heart.”
Frank stood.
“That won’t protect him.”
Vivian stood too.
“It already has.”
Frank left without the ring.
Before stepping through the door, he turned to Damon.
“The board meets Friday.”
Damon said nothing.
“If you aren’t there, I’ll know your decision.”
“My decision about what?”
“Whether you want to remain my son.”
Then Frank disappeared.
Rebecca waited until his car left.
“He just gave us something useful.”
“What?”
“A motive.”
Frank’s threat connected family status to business control.
Rebecca began investigating Second Branch Holdings.
By evening she found something.
The company owned shares in several Rossetti subsidiaries.
More importantly, those shares had been gradually transferred into a trust associated with Olivia.
Someone had been building financial power around the girl for years.
“But why?” Vivian asked.
Rebecca turned her laptop.
“Because Frank needed an alternate heir he could control.”
Damon understood first.
“Me.”
Rebecca nodded.
“Your father wasn’t replacing Leo with Olivia.”
Vivian frowned.
“He was replacing Damon.”
“And using the children to do it.”
The truth was uglier than Vivian had imagined.
Frank had created a false possibility that Olivia was Damon’s daughter, then maintained financial structures around her. As Damon became more resistant to his father, Frank could threaten him with another branch of the family.
Leo had become leverage.
Olivia had become leverage.
Neither child understood the game adults were playing around them.
That evening, Vivian found Leo drawing at the kitchen table.
Two children stood beneath a large yellow sun.
“Who’s that?”
“Me and Olivia.”
Vivian was surprised.
“You’re not angry at her?”
Leo shrugged.
“She looked scared too.”
Vivian sat beside him.
“She shouldn’t have swung the bat.”
“I know.”
“But sometimes people do bad things because adults tell them something wrong.”
Leo thought about that.
“Is Grandpa bad?”
Vivian resisted giving him an easy answer.
“Grandpa made some very bad choices.”
Leo added another figure to the picture.
A woman between the children.
Vivian.
“What are you doing?”
“Stopping the game.”
Vivian kissed his head.
Then the doorbell rang.
Claire Mercer stood outside.
Olivia was beside her.
Claire looked exhausted.
Olivia was crying.
“I need to talk to you,” Claire said.
Vivian looked at Olivia.
“What happened?”
Claire glanced toward the street.
“Frank knows I’m here.”
“So?”
Claire’s voice broke.
“He told me that if I talked to you, he’d take everything.”
Vivian opened the door wider.
Claire entered.
Olivia saw Leo.
Neither child spoke.
Finally Olivia whispered, “I’m sorry.”
Leo looked at her.
“For the bat?”
She nodded.
“I didn’t want to hit you.”
“Why did you do it?”
Olivia began crying.
“Because Grandpa Frank told me if I won…”
Claire closed her eyes.
Vivian waited.
Olivia finished the sentence.
“…I’d finally get a dad.”
May you like
And suddenly Vivian understood that there had been two victims tied to that birthday game.
Only one of them had been holding the bat.
