Chapter 6
Lucinda’s position hardened.
Juliet had been mentally unwell.
Juliet imagined danger.
Juliet exaggerated household conflict.
Lucinda merely managed communications during a crisis.
The hidden nursery proved Juliet’s instability, not Lucinda’s fraud.
That argument might have worked if the records stopped at grief.
They did not.
A forensic review of the mansion office found old email archives.
Lucinda to her attorney:
If Dominic sees the twin petition, he will explode and the judge may believe Juliet. We need to contain service.
Attorney:
We cannot misrepresent receipt.
Lucinda:
Then don’t put it that way. Household counsel can acknowledge without placing it in his hands.
The attorney later claimed he pushed back and did not understand Lucinda intended to conceal notice.
Maybe true.
He still faced bar discipline for careless handling of family-court service.
Then came the medical records.
Juliet’s obstetrician had documented twins until the week of delivery.
The final birth summary listed only Maisie.
A draft discharge note mentioned:
Twin B transferred with maternal authorization under protective plan.
That sentence disappeared from the signed version.
The nurse who changed the note was dead, but metadata showed the edit occurred from an administrative login assigned to Lucinda’s private coordinator.
Then a bank record showed payments from Lucinda’s personal holding company to a records-management vendor tied to the maternity wing.
Nothing by itself proved everything.
Together, it formed a pattern.
Lucinda had not simply repeated a story.
She had helped build the file that made the story possible.
Dominic’s men wanted action.
Dominic gave them an order.
“No one touches her.”
One cousin said:
“She shoved Maisie.”
Dominic stared at him.
“And I hit her. Did that fix anything?”
The cousin said nothing.
Dominic continued.
“This goes through court.”
May you like
It was the first time some of his men looked at him as if he had become someone else.
Maybe he had.
