Chapter 10 - ELENA CHOSE NORA BEFORE THE WEDDING
I stared at the document.
“That’s impossible.”
Sofia shook her head.
“Elena met you.”
“No.”
“I never met Dominic’s mother.”
“You did.”
She smiled.
“A little bookstore in Connecticut.”
Memory struck.
Six months before Dominic and I married.
An elegant older woman had asked me about the sketchbook I was carrying.
We talked for twenty minutes.
She told me never to stop designing because marriage had a way of convincing women their private dreams were optional.
I had never known her name.
“She knew who I was?”
“Yes.”
My throat tightened.
“Dominic told her about you.”
Dominic looked stunned.
“I thought she was already too sick to leave home.”
“She lied.”
Sofia shrugged.
“Runs in the family.”
She opened the codicil.
Elena had written:
If Dominic marries Nora Hayes, and Nora continues producing original design work after marriage, transfer fifteen percent of my voting interest to a trust held solely for Nora’s benefit.
No employment requirement.
No Caruso approval.
No minimum sales.
Just continued creative work.
My hands began shaking.
I had never stopped designing.
Even during pregnancy.
Even after Eli.
Even when I told myself the sketches were only private.
Which meant the shares may have vested years ago.
Dominic looked sick.
“I didn’t know her name was in it.”
Sofia stared at him.
“But you knew about a spouse clause.”
“Yes.”
“And you still kept Nora away.”
He lowered his eyes.
“Yes.”
Good.
No escape.
Sofia turned toward me.
“Elena chose you because you reminded her of herself before Vincent made her smaller.”
That sentence hurt differently.
A dead woman I had unknowingly met once had seen something in me my husband spent years suppressing.
Vincent was still on the phone.
“You have no authority to produce that.”
Sofia smiled.
“I’m co-executor.”
Silence.
She continued.
“And I kept the original because Elena knew you would destroy every copy.”
Vincent disconnected.
Coward.
Rebecca examined the document.
“This changes everything.”
“How much is fifteen percent worth?”
“Current valuation?”
She did rough math.
“Before debt, perhaps forty-five million.”
I felt nothing.
Numbers had stopped meaning anything.
“What voting power?”
“Significant.”
“Enough to block the bridal sale?”
“Yes.”
The room went quiet.
That was the real power.
I could stop Vanessa’s stolen collection from being sold.
But if I did, Caruso could default.
Employees could suffer.
Again, Dominic’s justification sat in front of me.
Except now I had the choice.
My choice.
I looked at Anthony.
“If we remove the disputed designs from the sale, what remains?”
He thought.
“Brand name. Distribution. Retail contracts. Production facilities.”
“Value?”
“Lower.”
“How much?”
“Maybe fifty-five million.”
Enough to address much of the debt.
Not all.
“But if I license my designs?”
Everyone looked at me.
Rebecca understood first.
“You could preserve value while retaining ownership.”
I nodded.
“License, not assign.”
“And royalties.”
“Yes.”
“And public credit.”
“Yes.”
Dominic stared.
“You would do that?”
I looked at him.
“Not for you.”
He nodded.
“I know.”
“For the seamstresses, warehouse workers, sales staff, assistants, and everyone who didn’t slap me or steal my work.”
His eyes filled.
Fair.
Then Sofia smiled.
“Elena would have liked you.”
I almost cried.
But before we could move forward, Rebecca’s phone rang.
Family court.
The emergency custody hearing had been scheduled for that afternoon.
Vincent was not withdrawing.
And he had submitted a new allegation.
I looked at Rebecca.
“What now?”
She hesitated.
“He claims you’re planning to take Eli out of the country permanently.”
I laughed.
“I don’t even have plane tickets.”
Rebecca opened the filing.
Then went still.
“What?”
“There are plane tickets.”
My stomach dropped.
Three first-class tickets.
New York to Paris.
Tomorrow.
Passenger names:
Nora Caruso.
Eli Caruso.
Claire Bennett.
I looked at Claire.
She stared back.
Neither of us had booked them.
May you like
Then Dominic whispered:
“Vanessa.”
