After He Watched Me Drown, I Built My Empire novel · Chapter 8 of 24
Chapter 8: Her Father's Chair
I walked the length of the table with forty people watching.
The chair was oak, black with age, and its arms were carved in the shape of a truss.
My father's hands had rested on those arms.
I sat.
It was heavier than it looked, and I had to pull it in with both hands.
Nobody spoke.
The old man leaned on his cane and stood so that everyone could see him.
"Let me explain what you just saw," he said. "Some of you have forgotten it, and some never knew."
He turned his head to the table.
"This house has eight seats. The Brancato seat. The Delmonte seat. Six more. Each votes on the docks and on every contract the Family signs. When the table splits, the Arcuri chair decides."
A cousin near me went pale.
"It has been empty for fourteen years," the old man said. "Her father held it. His daughter holds it now, from this minute, until she tells me otherwise."
"She's twenty-three," the Delmonte Don said.
"She'll be twenty-four in five weeks. I'm seating her early."
"She's a girl from the guest cottage."
"She's the Arcuri engineer's daughter, and she's the only person in this room who has ever been shoved off my dock."
He let that sit.
"Cesare," he said.
Cesare stood so fast his chair rocked.
"Papa, this is insane. She's nobody. She's a ward."
"She's a vote."
"You're giving her the table because of one stupid prank..."
"I'm giving her the table because her father earned it," the old man said. "I'm taking your seat from you tonight because you earned that."
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