I turn away from him, looking back at the group.
“Cherry is a Ramsay,” I say. “Time to accept that.”
“Nate, she didn’t know that.”
I glance at Cherry and the tears streaming down her face, and I have no idea what to do or who to believe. My stomach, head, and heart are all tied into knots, and I can’t untie them.
Did she know, as Pops says? Or is Nora right, and Cherry is just caught in the middle of this—an innocent bystander who knows nothing of her heritage?
“Cherry would still be second in line,” I say. “Why would the Ramsays care about her? It’s not like she could make a claim over Janna. It only makes sense if they were using her to get to me, and they can’t have done that without her knowing.”
“Maybe that was their plan,” Nora says. “Maybe they hoped to gain her trust or something, but that doesn’t mean Cherry knows anything about it.”
“It doesn’t explain why Micha would get killed over it, either,” Antony says.
“We have no idea if that was the reason,” Nora says.
“The timing is pretty suspicious.”
“I think he was killed over it,” Threes says. “Think about it—if Micha was digging into a long-lost child of Roland Ramsay, that’s a threat. We don’t know why they were keeping Cherry a secret or what Micha was planning to do with the information. Maybe he got close to something, the Ramsays found out, and they killed him to keep him from taking out one of their own.”
“I wouldn’t have put it past him.” Nora says. “Pops would have pushed for it, too. Getting to a Ramsay here in town would be difficult, but taking one of them out in some backwoods place in Maryland would have been easy.”
Again, I glance at Cherry. She’s clearly taking all of this in, and I wonder what she thinks about this casual conversation concerning my brother possibly orchestrating her death. Nora is right—Micha might very well have considered killing a Ramsay child if he thought he could get away with it.
“No matter what else you care to believe, that girl is a Ramsay.” Pops leans forward, staring me right in the eye. “She’s a Ramsay, and you need to deal with that.”
“We don’t know what all Micha figured out,” Antony says. “He could have left some other clues for us. What was in the file wasn’t enough.”
“Some of it doesn’t make sense, either.” Threes starts to sort through the papers on the desk again, finally pulling up Micha’s file. “Why the club receipts? Why the fuck would he have some invoice from a cheese shop in Accident?”
“It doesn’t really matter though, does it?” I ask softly.
“What doesn’t?”
“Cherry not knowing about any of this. Even if I believe her, it doesn’t make any difference. I can’t go against what Pops says.”
The room goes silent for a long moment. I look at Pops, and he looks at me. His mouth spreads into a wide grin, and he starts to chuckle as he walks toward the wall near the window, staring up at his own portrait.
“No Ramsay can ever become part of this family.” Pops crosses his arms over his chest, but the grin remains on his face. “I will not allow it.”
I close my eyes for a minute before addressing them all.
“It doesn’t matter anyway,” I say. “Yeah, I’m the head of the family now, but when it comes to something like this, I have to go with Pops.”
“Pops?” Nora narrows her eyes at me.
“He’ll never accept her, Nora.” I shake my head. “I…I can’t continue a relationship with her even if she is innocent in all of this. She’s a Ramsay. Pops is right.”
“Nate, what are you talking about?” Nora stares at me, her brow furrowed. “You think Pops wouldn’t have approved of her?”
“He doesn’t approve, clearly.” I wave my hand in my father’s direction. “He’s already made up his mind, and I can’t…I can’t go against him. Not in this.”
“Nataniele?” Nora takes a step forward, extending her hand like the Virgin offering her blessing.
“Nate, dude, what are you talking about?” Antony stares at me.
“You all heard him,” I say. “We can’t let a Ramsay into the family. Whether she knew it or not is irrelevant.”