Who made dinner today?

Ellie startled and immediately pulled her hand back, hiding it behind her.

Ririko watched her sidelong in the mirror.

"Why are you still standing here?"

Ellie tore her gaze from Ririko's hair and said, trying to sound composed:

"It's your first time visiting the Cobblepot family, so I wanted to show you around."

Ririko glanced at her and noticed the faint flush of nerves across her cheekbones.

In all her years in Gotham, she had seen far too many faces that spelled trouble-

Ellie was the sort who had been spoiled rotten since childhood, whose jealousy and greed were written all over her face, yet still thought no one could tell...

"A tour? Not interested." She picked up a makeup brush at the vanity.

Ellie's face flushed red.

She was just a woman kept by a bastard, yet she dared speak like that to the Cobblepot family's young lady...

"In that case, I won't disturb you." Ellie's voice steadied again.

She turned, walked to the door, and shut it behind her, then took out her key and turned it in the lock.

Ririko put down the brush, walked to the door, and pushed against it with her hand on the handle.

The door didn't budge.

She picked up her phone and sent Oswald a message.

"I've been locked in my room. Come back soon, or I'm going to get angry."

She hit send, then added an angry, fire-breathing emoji.

Oswald didn't reply.

That evening, Oswald's Lincoln pulled into the driveway of the Cobblepot mansion.

The entrance wasn't as brightly lit as the night before, and no servants were there to greet him.

Dressed in a burgundy velvet suit with a black shirt and tie, he walked through the mansion's hallway, using his umbrella as a cane.

He went to the dining room as they had "agreed" the day before.

The dishes were already on the table beneath silver cloches, and the crystal glasses had been filled with red wine.

Jason sat at one end of the long table. Beside him sat an elderly lawyer wearing reading glasses, with a neatly placed document in front of him.

Oswald sat down opposite Jason, planted his umbrella beside him, and folded both hands over its handle.

"My time is limited," Oswald said in a businesslike tone. "Let's discuss Father's will."

Jason remained where he was, sitting comfortably with his fingers interlaced on the table and the hint of a smirk on his lips.

The elderly lawyer pushed the document toward the middle of the long table.

Oswald picked it up and quickly scanned the clauses. This wasn't a will. It was an agreement requiring him to transfer all his assets to Jason, William, and Ellie without compensation.

Oswald gave a sly little smile.

"On what grounds?"

Jason leaned forward slightly, his palms flat against the table.

"On the grounds that we're better suited than you to hold those assets in the Cobblepot name, of course."

Oswald wasn't angered. He didn't even blink.

His gaze swept across the dining room.

"Where's Ririko?"

Jason's smile widened. He felt he had gambled correctly.

Oswald was worried about Ririko. He would sign this contract for that woman.

But once Oswald lost everything, Ririko naturally wouldn't stay with him.

What could a man with no money, no power, and a lame leg possibly offer to keep a woman like her?

By then, he, Jason Cobblepot, would have money, power, and a more respectable standing as the Cobblepot heir than his brother-

And that stunning beauty would rightfully be his.

"Sign this agreement, and I'll let her go," Jason said coaxingly.

Oswald shook his head gently.

He sounded almost resigned. "Does your mother know how stupid and greedy you are?"

Jason leaned back a little.

"She'll support this, of course. You don't need to worry."

Oswald tilted his head, a shadow creeping into his smile.

With a touch of malice and indifference, he said, "Not necessarily... Why don't you ask her yourself?"

Jason was visibly impatient with his repeated references to their mother. "No need. Hurry up and sign, or we won't be so nice."

The dining room door opened.

William walked in with four men in black behind him.

The four men took positions on either side behind Oswald, threatening him into submission.

Oswald didn't look at them. He didn't even look at William.

His gaze settled on the covered plate before him.

"If you won't ask Miranda-I'll ask her for you."

He lifted the silver cloche, picked up his fork, and speared a piece of meat covered in red wine sauce, raising it before his eyes.

"Miranda, don't you know the Cobblepot family lost its place in Gotham long ago?"

Jason's brow furrowed.

As he watched Oswald speak to the meat, a sense of wrongness crept up his spine like a cold, slippery snake.

"You didn't even bother finding out who the most powerful gang boss in Gotham is now..."

Oswald spoke as though chatting with an old friend. "You've buried your head in the sand, living twenty years in the past... But it doesn't matter. The result would have been the same."

Jason felt something was wrong.

He remembered that his mother hadn't appeared since leaving the dining room yesterday.

He had thought Ririko's words had upset her and that she was simply resting in her room.

The excited flush drained from his face, leaving him ever paler.

His lips trembled, and he forced the words out through them. "You... what did you do to her?"

Oswald put the meat back on the plate, then picked up a napkin and wiped his fingers.

"I merely returned the favor. I made her a lavish dinner to repay her for breaking my leg twenty years ago."

Jason lowered his head, his gaze falling to the bottom of the plate.

Beneath the meat lay rosemary and roasted garlic... and a diamond ring.

He recognized that ring. His mother had said it represented the Cobblepot family's dignity, and she had never taken it off.

Jason began to tremble.

One by one, he lifted the silver cloches covering the dishes. Each contained meat from a different part of the body, and his mind was already filling in the blanks.

He looked at William, his lips moving. "Who... made dinner today?"

William's Adam's apple bobbed, and he shook his head.

He hadn't ordered the kitchen to prepare dinner today.

Jason's gaze shifted to Oswald's face. That pale, gaunt face, with its dark circles and hooked nose, had never frightened him so much.

Fear seeped from deep within his bones, and his fingers and lips turned bluish-purple.

"Kill him!" Jason's voice cracked into a shriek. "He killed Mother!"

William took a step forward, his hand already slipping inside his suit jacket.

But suddenly, a cold gun barrel pressed against his back.

Butch stood in the dining room doorway with more than a dozen gang enforcers behind him, their guns trained on everyone in the room who wasn't on Oswald's side.

Oswald flicked the rim of his crystal glass with a fingertip. The clear ring sent a chill through Jason.

"How can you be so rude? Leaving dinner unfinished and wasting food-that simply won't do."

He tilted his head, and Jason and William were pinned to the dining table, their cheeks pressed against its cold surface, arms twisted behind their backs, and guns aimed at their heads from every direction.

Oswald stood. "Back then, Mother and I couldn't even afford meat... Now I'm repaying cruelty with kindness. You ought to be grateful."

He turned toward the elderly lawyer.

The old man remained expressionless. In forty years in this profession, he had seen bloodier, filthier scenes than this. Besides, Oswald had contacted him long before Jason had.

The elderly lawyer took another document from his briefcase. It read:

Jason, William, and Ellie voluntarily and unconditionally transfer all assets of the Cobblepot Family to their elder brother, Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot.

"Make sure you witness this properly," Oswald told the elderly lawyer. "Once they sign this contract, I'll be the Cobblepot family's sole legal heir."

Jason's face was pinned to the table, his lips pressed against the cold tablecloth.

"You can't do this."

Oswald gave a meaningful glance.

A gunshot rang out, and a hole appeared in Jason's left leg. Dark blood welled from it, soaking his light gray suit trousers.

William screamed a fraction of a second after Jason. A hole had appeared in his left leg as well.

Oswald told the two men before him, "If you don't finish these dishes, you'll lose your right legs and both hands."

Jason's lips were trembling, but his fingers had already closed around his fork.

He lowered his head, speared the food on his plate, and shakily brought it to his mouth, chewing and swallowing.

Oswald turned his head, and Butch bent down beside him.

"Go find Ririko."

Butch nodded, turned, and left the dining room.