The air in the cathedral was thick enough to choke on. It was a potent, suffocating mixture of old money, expensive perfume, and the cloying sweetness of a thousand white lilies arranged around the closed, bronze casket of Arthur Brian. Joe stood rigidly beside it, his face a mask of polished granite, but Davidson, standing a step behind and to the right—the heir’s position—could see the fine tremor in his mentor’s hand.This wasn’t a funeral; it was the opening salvo in a war they hadn’t known they were fighting.The eulogy had been a masterclass in double-speak, a corporate obituary praising Arthur’s vision while carefully omitting the man’s corrosive cruelty. Joe had spoken of legacy, of the empire built from Texas dust, and of the future. And then, his voice dropping to a resonant, unshakeable timbre, he had done the unthinkable.He had looked directly at the press corps, a sea of hungry lenses, and stated, with the finality of a judge passing sentence, “My father’s passing marks
Last Updated : 2025-10-31 Read more