Chapter 20 A Family Arrangement

• The meeting continues, but I hear it differently now.
• Mercer pushes for revised access routes tied to the gala’s donor level. Lydia asks two sharp questions about upstairs movement and who authorized the split between the public guest list and the private one. Victor answers both without giving either of them more than he wants to. His control of the room is so complete it stops feeling like authority and starts feeling like weather. Everyone adjusts around it.
• Twice he asks me for a page before anyone else can reach it.