The morning air outside was cool and clean and completely indifferent to everything happening inside the Pedro mansion. Julian walked to the car, jacket in hand, and was reaching for the door when his phone rang.
He looked at the screen. Mother.
He answered.
"Julian." His mother's voice came through immediately, steady on the surface the way it always was, but underneath it, if you knew her well enough, something tight. Something is working very hard to stay steady.
"Can you come to the company? Your uncle Kalian has called an emergency meeting. Your aunt Claire as well." A pause. "I have a bad feeling about this."
Julian stood by the car door.
"They're making a move," he said. It wasn't a question.
"They are not going to stop," his mother said.
"You know how they are. The moment they sense any kind of opening…" She stopped herself. And in the silence Julian could hear the thing she wasn't saying.
