Chapter 6 - MY MOTHER CALLED IT PROTECTING THE FAMILY
Victoria Vale requested dinner.
I requested attorneys.
She was offended.
Good.
We met at the family office.
Emma did not attend.
Her choice.
My mother entered in navy silk.
Perfect hair.
Perfect posture.
No visible fear.
Lionel Ross sat three chairs away with his own counsel.
I placed the embryo records on the table.
Mother barely looked.
“You preserved our embryo.”
She corrected me.
“Your embryo.”
“No.”
For the first time, my voice rose.
“Emma's genetic material was in it.”
“She had left.”
“You forged her consent.”
“I authorized nothing of the sort.”
Lionel looked down.
There.
Mother noticed.
“So Lionel did it?”
No answer.
Then my attorney produced foundation payments.
New Harbor.
Lionel.
The clinic administrator.
My mother's face hardened.
Finally:
“You needed an heir.”
Silence.
There it was.
I stared.
She continued:
“Your grandfather's trust was about to move toward Anthony's branch.”
“So?”
“So everything your father built would eventually fragment.”
“My father built businesses.”
She laughed.
“You're naïve if you believe that's all.”
Maybe.
Not relevant.
“You used Emma.”
“I preserved an opportunity.”
I almost stood.
My attorney touched nothing.
Said nothing.
I sat anyway.
Mother continued:
“She was already gone.”
“Because you framed her?”
That finally cracked her composure.
I knew.
“Michael's ambush,” I said.
Her face went pale.
“You built the fake account.”
“No.”
“Lionel?”
Silence.
Lionel's attorney whispered to him.
Too late.
My mother looked at me.
“She was making you weak.”
The sentence settled everything.
Emma asked questions.
Wanted distance from criminal operations.
Wanted me to reduce risk.
Mother feared marriage would pull me out.
So she helped Lionel manufacture evidence linking Emma to the leak.
They knew Michael was going to survive.
The ambush itself had come from a real rival.
They simply redirected suspicion afterward.
“You let me believe she nearly killed my brother.”
Mother's eyes filled.
“I kept you focused.”
I stared at her.
Then:
“You stole a woman from my life and later stole part of her body to give me a child.”
Victoria flinched.
I had never spoken to her like that.
Good.
“You do not get to call either one love.”
The meeting ended.
Records went to investigators.
New Harbor's administrator eventually admitted the embryo was deliberately reclassified.
Lionel handled the paperwork.
Victoria funded the clinic project.
The forged consent had been generated from Emma's old reproductive documents.
May you like
Nobody had expected anyone to compare dates three years later.
They were wrong.
