Chapter 7 - GENEVIEVE’S FALL
Genevieve did not go quietly.
She hired a publicist.
Then fired the publicist.
Then posted a video calling herself the victim of the Blackwood family’s “campaign of intimidation.”
Bad choice.
Her attorney had specifically instructed her not to discuss an active child-assault case.
The video vanished twenty minutes later.
The internet had already copied it.
She claimed Maya attacked her dress intentionally.
Claimed I coached the child.
Claimed Julian had promised marriage because our relationship was “already over.”
That last part did not matter legally.
But something else did.
She said:
“Everyone in that house knew Eleanor was unstable.”
Everyone.
Investigators asked who “everyone” meant.
Genevieve’s messages were subpoenaed.
Inside were months of texts with Victoria.
Victoria knew about the affair.
Worse:
She encouraged it.
Maybe Genevieve can finally make Julian happy.
Eleanor is useless socially.
Once he gets custody, Maya will adjust.
Custody.
The messages predated the assault.
One said:
Do not let Eleanor take Maya if she leaves. The Blackwoods would bury us if she ever goes back to them.
I stared.
Victoria knew.
Not the full scope of Blackwood support.
But she knew exactly who I was.
All six years.
That revelation hurt differently.
She had mocked me as poor.
Called my clothes cheap.
Said my family “clearly had no standards.”
She knew my family name the entire time.
Why pretend?
Control.
If she acknowledged I had somewhere powerful to return, she could not convince me I was trapped.
So she participated in the fiction Julian believed:
That I had nowhere.
I realized then how carefully isolation had been built.
Not a locked door.
A story.
---
Genevieve ultimately entered a plea on charges related to the assault, with mandated counseling, probationary restrictions, and no contact with Maya.
Some people online wanted something more dramatic.
I wanted her gone.
The court gave us that.
May you like
Enough.
---
