Chapter 3
Leah contacted Katherine that afternoon.
Not Cassian.
Katherine liked her immediately for that decision.
They arranged a protected video conference.
Leah appeared beside another attorney.
Lucas was not present.
Good.
Cassian did not want a twelve-year-old dropped into an adult confrontation.
Leah looked tired.
Not frightened exactly.
Exhausted by thirteen years of carrying a story she believed had already been decided.
Cassian spoke first.
“Did my father tell you I wanted no contact?”
Her expression changed.
“You know.”
“I know something.”
Leah stared at him.
“Dominic said you refused to see me.”
“I never knew you came.”
“I went to his office.”
“When?”
“Three weeks after I found out.”
Cassian looked away.
Exactly what he expected.
Leah continued.
“Your father was polite.”
That almost made it worse.
“He said you had already moved on. Said a child would create complications with your business and your future marriage prospects.”
Cassian’s face hardened.
“I wasn’t even dating Elena.”
“I know that now.”
“What happened?”
Dominic arranged counsel.
A support agreement.
No formal paternity case.
No public filing.
Leah was told Cassian wanted privacy but would provide generously.
“Did you ever hear from me directly?”
“No.”
“Call?”
“No.”
“Birthday card?”
“No.”
“Email?”
“No.”
Leah’s anger rose.
“I thought that was the point.”
Cassian let the sentence stand.
From her perspective, silence and money told the same story his father had written.
“Why did you agree to the relocation?”
Leah looked embarrassed.
“Because the payments stopped.”
“When?”
“Three months ago.”
Cassian looked toward Katherine.
Same period the foundation board approved a new independent audit schedule.
Leah continued.
“Lucinda called.”
“What did she say?”
“That the support account had been discovered.”
Cassian’s jaw tightened.
“Discovered by who?”
“She said your auditors.”
“What else?”
“She said if your name became publicly connected to Lucas, your enemies would use him.”
That was believable enough to scare someone.
Particularly someone who had spent twelve years being told Cassian deliberately kept distance for safety.
“She offered protection?”
“Yes.”
“Northgate?”
“Yes.”
“She told me we could spend a month somewhere private while lawyers figured out how to approach you.”
“Did she tell you I knew?”
Leah looked down.
“She said you had always known.”
Cassian absorbed that quietly.
“Why were you at the hotel?”
“To meet her lawyer.”
“Did you sign anything?”
“A temporary relocation consent.”
“Anything else?”
Leah hesitated.
Cassian saw it.
“What?”
“A confidentiality acknowledgment.”
Katherine immediately asked for it.
Leah’s attorney shared the document.
It was worse than expected.
Leah acknowledged that Cassian had privately supported Lucas since birth.
That she had accepted secrecy voluntarily.
That she would not contact Cassian directly without foundation counsel.
And that she understood disclosure might end financial support.
Cassian stared at the line.
“Did you believe I required this?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because your signature was on twelve years of documents.”
That was the problem.
A lie repeated annually became infrastructure.
Then Cassian asked the hardest question.
“Where is Lucas now?”
Leah’s expression changed.
“Safe.”
“Where?”
“My lawyer advised me not to say until the court clarifies things.”
Cassian looked toward her attorney.
He respected the decision.
He hated it.
Leah continued.
“We left the Northgate car at a gas station.”
Katherine blinked.
“You left?”
“I got scared.”
“Why?”
“Lucinda called while we were driving.”
“What did she say?”
Leah swallowed.
“She said Cassian had become violent at the hotel.”
Cassian’s face hardened.
Leah had been told almost immediately about his confrontation with Lucinda.
“She said if I loved Lucas, I would not let Cassian find us angry.”
That was how the threat worked.
Lucinda had used Cassian’s shove as proof of the danger she had been describing.
Leah got out with Lucas at a crowded gas station and called her attorney.
They were now in a location controlled by Leah’s counsel, not Lucinda.
May you like
Lucas had not disappeared.
But Lucinda had come very close to deciding who controlled the next move.
