Chapter 8 - LENORA’S DINNER
Lenora refused to leave the mansion.
Her attorney advised her not to.
That annoyed Dominic enough to make him allow it.
If Lenora stayed, she could be watched.
Daniel returned two days later against medical advice.
He entered through the front doors with his hand bandaged and a bruise fading along his temple.
Lenora stood at the base of the staircase.
For several seconds, husband and wife simply stared at one another.
Then Lenora said:
“You look terrible.”
Daniel smiled.
“You sound disappointed.”
She crossed her arms.
“You disappeared.”
“I was attacked.”
“And naturally that is somehow my fault.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t have to.”
Maisie watched from the upper landing beside Rosa.
Dominic immediately noticed.
“Maisie.”
She looked at him.
“Bedroom.”
“But—”
“Please.”
She obeyed.
Lenora watched her go.
Daniel saw the look.
Something in him changed.
“Did you really shove her?”
Lenora laughed.
“Oh, please.”
Daniel’s face hardened.
“She’s seven.”
“She is the reason everyone in this family has lost their minds.”
Dominic stepped forward.
Daniel stopped him with one hand.
“My wife.”
Dominic looked at him.
Daniel continued.
“My question.”
He turned back to Lenora.
“Why?”
Lenora looked almost offended.
“She was disrespectful.”
“Seven.”
“You keep saying that as though children are incapable of manipulation.”
Daniel stared.
“Did you take her hair?”
Silence.
Lenora looked toward Dominic.
“That laboratory test was necessary.”
Daniel laughed.
“Fake laboratory.”
“The test is not fake.”
Samuel entered from the dining room.
“Actually, it is.”
Everyone turned.
The independent result had arrived.
Samuel handed Dominic the envelope.
Dominic opened it.
Probability of biological paternity:
99.99%.
Maisie was his daughter.
He already knew.
Still, seeing the number released a tension he had refused to admit existed.
Daniel smiled.
“Told you.”
Lenora looked at the report.
For the first time, uncertainty crossed her face.
Samuel continued:
“The original report used in the petition appears to have been fabricated from an archived template.”
Dominic watched Lenora.
She did not deny it.
Instead:
“That changes nothing.”
Samuel raised an eyebrow.
“Legally, it changes quite a bit.”
Lenora walked toward the dining room.
“Then let’s discuss legality.”
The long dining table had been prepared for six.
Dominic had not ordered dinner.
Lenora had.
At each place sat a black folder.
Daniel opened one.
His face changed.
“What is this?”
Lenora sat at the opposite end.
“A settlement.”
Dominic remained standing.
“Whose?”
“Everyone’s.”
The proposal was simple.
Too simple.
Lenora would withdraw the paternity challenge.
Dominic would acknowledge Amendment 14-C.
The mansion debt would remain.
Daniel would retain secondary trust authority.
Maisie’s separate property claim would be “resolved” through a cash settlement payable at age twenty-five.
Amount:
Ten million dollars.
Dominic laughed.
Not because it was funny.
Because sometimes arrogance became absurd.
“You tried to buy my daughter’s house from her for ten million?”
Lenora’s expression remained cold.
“It is not her house.”
“It is.”
“The reversal stands.”
“It was forged.”
“Prove it.”
Daniel leaned forward.
“We will.”
Lenora looked at him.
“You’re choosing him.”
Daniel stared.
“He’s my brother.”
“I’m your wife.”
“That stopped meaning what you think it means when I woke up bleeding on a cabin floor.”
Lenora’s face changed.
“You think I arranged that?”
“I think you knew I was going.”
Silence.
Daniel continued.
“Only three people knew.”
“Perhaps one of them betrayed you.”
“One was Dominic.”
“Exactly.”
Daniel nearly laughed.
Lenora’s attempt was too desperate.
Dominic saw it too.
“You want us fighting.”
Lenora looked at him.
“You’ve been fighting your whole lives.”
“True.”
Daniel smiled.
“But we usually enjoy it.”
Dominic almost smiled.
Lenora stood.
“Fine.”
She gathered nothing.
“The debt closes Monday.”
Samuel frowned.
“What?”
“Twenty-eight million.”
She looked at Dominic.
“If the lender does not receive final trust confirmation by Monday, default provisions begin.”
“Against property you don’t own.”
“The county record says otherwise.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
Lenora continued.
“Maybe Elena left you a sweet little letter.”
She smiled.
“But courts prefer registered documents.”
Samuel stood.
“We can seek an injunction.”
“Try.”
Lenora walked toward the door.
Dominic stopped her.
“Who owns the other sixty percent of Larkspur?”
She froze.
Daniel leaned back.
Interesting.
Lenora recovered.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Yes, you do.”
Dominic moved closer.
“You received forty percent.”
Her face changed.
Daniel frowned.
“Thirty.”
Dominic looked at him.
“Thomas said thirty.”
Lenora went pale.
All three men saw it.
Dominic’s voice became quiet.
“How much were you promised?”
Lenora did not answer.
Daniel stood.
“Lenora.”
She looked at her husband.
“Thirty.”
Dominic nodded slowly.
“Then someone changed your agreement too.”
For the first time, Lenora looked genuinely afraid.
Not of Dominic.
Of someone else.
She whispered:
“That’s impossible.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“Who promised you thirty percent?”
Lenora looked around the room.
Then toward the hallway.
As though suddenly worried someone might be listening.
Finally she said:
“Marcus Vale.”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed.
Daniel spoke carefully.
“You met him?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Six months ago.”
“Where?”
“Here.”
Dominic went still.
Lenora continued:
“In this house.”
May you like
And then she said something even worse.
“He told me Elena’s trust was never supposed to survive.”
