Victor announced the retreat at dinner.
Not as a suggestion. Victor Drax did not make suggestions. He made pronouncements in the register of warmth, which was somehow more effective than authority because you found yourself agreeing before you had registered that a choice was being presented. The mountain estate. Three days. A rotation of business allies and family advisors, a small and curated audience for the next chapter of the inheritance narrative. He said it over the second course with that settled, approving smile and looked between Lucien and me like a man confirming something he had already decided.
"It will be good for the two of you," he said. "Time away from the city. Time to simply be."
Lucien said something even and appropriate.
I smiled and agreed and thought: he is asse
