Chapter 9 - The Mother Who Wanted Everything
Dominic stared at his mother.
“You were going to have me declare my wife unstable?”
Eleanor did not deny it.
“You would have thanked me later.”
“For what?”
“For protecting your future.”
I watched Dominic finally see the woman I had seen for years.
Not the polished matriarch.
Not the devoted mother.
A woman who viewed people according to usefulness.
My baby represented money.
I represented access.
Dominic represented a signature.
Chloe had represented distraction.
Eleanor turned toward me.
“You would have wasted everything.”
“You don't know anything about what I do.”
“I know you hide behind modest clothes and charity work.”
Dad's mouth tightened.
“You mean the charitable foundation that distributed eighty-six million dollars last year?”
Eleanor went silent.
I had never wanted anyone impressed by my money.
But watching her assumptions collapse carried its own strange justice.
Gerald suddenly spoke.
“This has gone too far.”
He pushed the leather case toward Dad.
“I advised against the wedding incident.”
Chloe's mother laughed bitterly.
“Coward.”
Investigators separated them.
Then Rebecca discovered another page beneath the petition.
A draft postnuptial agreement.
It would have transferred management authority over certain inherited assets to Dominic.
My signature appeared at the bottom.
I had never signed it.
Rebecca examined the page.
“This is forged.”
Dominic stared at it.
“I swear I didn't know.”
For once, I believed him.
Not because he deserved trust.
Because his shock was genuine.
That did not save our marriage.
Cowardice had already destroyed that.
But it meant Eleanor's betrayal reached her own son too.
An investigator asked Gerald a simple question.
“Who created this signature?”
Gerald refused to answer.
Eleanor smiled.
Then Dominic looked at the signature again.
His expression changed.
“Wait.”
He took the page.
“Mom can't copy Vivienne's signature this well.”
Eleanor's smile vanished.
Dominic looked toward me.
“But Chloe can.”
I remembered birthday cards Chloe had jokingly signed with other people's names.
She was frighteningly good at imitation.
Dad called Malcolm.
“Find Chloe.”
There was a pause.
Then Malcolm answered.
“Sir.”
“Mrs. Mercer left the hotel.”
“When?”
“Seven minutes after Eleanor.”
“Where is she now?”
Another pause.
“We tracked her vehicle.”
“She's heading to the airport.”
And she wasn't alone.
May you like
Amanda was with her.
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