Chapter 5 - MY FATHER REFUSED TO TAKE THEIR COMPANY
Eleanor accused Dad of planning everything.
We were in a conference room with lawyers present when she finally arrived.
She wore pearls.
Perfect makeup.
No apology.
“Your daughter married my son to get access to our company.”
I actually laughed.
Dad did not.
“Vivienne did not know the option existed.”
“She’s lying.”
Anthony slammed his palm against the table.
“Enough.”
Everyone stopped.
He looked at his wife.
“You humiliated my pregnant daughter-in-law.”
Eleanor’s face hardened.
“She embarrassed our daughter.”
“Chloe tried to frame her for theft.”
“It was a joke.”
Anthony stared at her.
“A joke requiring police?”
Silence.
Then Eleanor turned toward Dominic.
“Say something.”
That phrase almost made me laugh again.
Dominic had spent years hearing the same command from me without answering.
Now his mother wanted rescue.
He looked at her.
“No.”
One word.
Too late for our marriage.
Still important for him.
Dad addressed the ownership option.
Vale Crown had no intention of exercising it immediately.
“I don’t want Moretti Architectural Development.”
Eleanor blinked.
“Then why audit us?”
“Because my company paid you millions.”
Simple.
The independent review would determine losses.
Any improper payments would be recovered through normal legal channels.
If Moretti remained financially healthy, Dad preferred it remain independent.
Anthony stared at him.
“Why?”
“Because four hundred people work there.”
Exactly.
I looked at Dominic.
He looked ashamed.
Dad understood something my husband had forgotten.
Companies were not family trophies.
Then the audit uncovered the forged recommendation letter.
Metadata showed it originated on a computer in our house.
My house.
Dominic and I had purchased it together.
The document had been created four months after our wedding.
Device user:
DOMINIC MORETTI.
He went white.
“I didn’t create it.”
Caroline asked:
“Who used your computer?”
“My mother.”
Of course.
But then another file appeared.
An email from Dominic to Eleanor:
VIVIENNE WON’T WRITE THE LETTER. SHE DOESN’T WANT FAMILY CONNECTIONS MIXED WITH BUSINESS.
Eleanor replied:
THEN I’LL HANDLE IT.
Dominic answered:
DO WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO. I DON’T WANT TO KNOW.
The room became silent.
I stared at him.
He knew again.
Not exactly what she would do.
But enough.
“You knew she planned to use my name.”
Dominic looked destroyed.
“I thought she would ask your father informally.”
“After I said no?”
“Yes.”
I nodded.
No screaming.
No tears.
Just clarity.
Our marriage had not ended when he failed to defend me at Chloe’s wedding.
That was simply the first moment I understood how long it had already been over.
Then Caroline handed me another message.
This one had nothing to do with company contracts.
Eleanor to Dominic.
Three months earlier:
KEEP VIVIENNE CALM UNTIL THE BABY IS BORN. ONCE THE CHILD EXISTS, THE VALE TRUST CONNECTION CHANGES EVERYTHING.
My hand went cold.
Dominic stared at the message.
“What trust?”
I looked at Dad.
May you like
He looked equally confused.
Eleanor knew something about my family estate that neither my husband nor I understood.
