Chapter 13
Millie learned about Lucas slowly.
Not through scandal.
Not through the news.
Cassian and Dr. Reece explained it together.
“You have a brother.”
Millie stared at her father.
“The boy from the hotel?”
“Yes.”
“Lucinda’s boy?”
“No.”
“Your boy?”
Cassian almost choked on the phrasing.
“My son.”
Millie thought.
“Does that mean he lives here?”
“No.”
“Is he older than me?”
“Yes.”
“How old?”
“Twelve.”
“That’s very old.”
Cassian decided not to tell Lucas she said that.
Millie continued.
“Did you lose him?”
The question hurt.
“In a way.”
“How?”
“Adults kept us from knowing each other.”
“Lucinda?”
“And my father.”
Millie frowned.
“Grandpa?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Cassian thought carefully.
“Because he thought he could decide what was best without asking me or Lucas’s mom.”
Millie looked toward the floor.
“Like Lucinda deciding I should be in the wall?”
Cassian went still.
“Yes.”
Different scale.
Same principle.
Adults deciding someone else’s voice did not matter.
Millie did not ask to meet Lucas.
Cassian did not push.
A month later Lucas sent her a note.
Not sentimental.
It read:
Sorry you got locked in that thing because you saw me. I didn’t know what was happening. Your bracelet trick was smart.
Millie read it.
Then asked:
“Can I answer?”
Cassian gave her paper.
She wrote:
Thank you. I don’t like vents anymore. Do you like dogs?
Lucas did.
That became their first conversation.
Not bloodline.
Not betrayal.
Dogs.
The foundation reforms became permanent.
Independent audit committee.
No spouse or family member allowed to approve related-party vendors.
Beneficial ownership disclosure required for every contractor.
Family-assistance accounts separated completely from charitable funds.
Digital signatures required direct approval and device authentication.
No archived signature images accessible to administrative staff.
Any support involving a minor required independent counsel representing the parent or child, not simply the Romano family.
Cassian insisted on that one.
Katherine approved.
The foundation also stopped funding Northgate-style “confidential relocation” without documented consent and independent safeguarding review.
No more private system where wealthy people could move vulnerable families around because a powerful surname appeared on the paperwork.
The changes cost money.
They slowed decisions.
May you like
Vincent complained constantly.
Cassian considered that evidence they were working.
