The circle remained frozen in the aftermath of Marcel's removal, feet shuffling against stone, faces shifting between fearful adulation and the kind of respect that came from witnessing power wielded with surgical expertise. The staff sat in their chairs like students after a particularly brutal exam, unsure whether to move or speak or simply wait for permission to breathe.
Bishop stood at the center, letting the silence stretch until it became almost unbearable, and then he spoke with the kind of authority that didn't require volume to command attention.
"We don't take betrayal lightly," he said, his eyes moving across each face with deliberate care. "Anyone—and I mean anyone—affiliated with this family is like blood. We protect our own. We provide for our own. We stand by our own throu
