Chapter 9 - The Estate He Thought He Owned
Julian drove to the mansion.
He tried the front gate.
It wouldn't open.
He called security.
They told him the property was under legal restriction.
He screamed into the phone.
Then he realized nobody was afraid of him anymore.
He called his father.
No answer.
He called Genevieve.
Blocked.
He called his attorney.
The attorney told him to stop making calls.
Julian sat inside his car.
For the first time, he was alone.
He remembered Eleanor's face.
Not the slap.
The calm before it.
That was what terrified him.
She had known.
She had known everything.
And she had waited.
Inside the mansion, Eleanor packed Maya's belongings.
Maya held her mother's hand.
“Are we leaving?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because we don't have to.”
Eleanor looked around the room.
“This is your home too.”
Maya smiled.
Later that evening, Grandfather Blackwood joined them.
He looked at Maya.
“Would you like to see something?”
She nodded.
He opened an old box.
Inside were photographs of Eleanor as a little girl.
Maya laughed.
“Mommy had the same hair!”
Eleanor smiled.
For a few minutes, the family simply sat together.
No lawyers.
No money.
No fear.
Just family.
But the peace didn't last.
Eleanor received an urgent call.
Her attorney said:
“We found the forged signature source.”
“Who?”
He paused.
“Someone inside Julian's legal team.”
Eleanor looked at her father.
“Then this goes deeper.”
“Yes.”
The attorney continued.
“And there's something else.”
“What?”
“The person who helped Julian may have been reporting directly to someone outside the family.”
Eleanor frowned.
May you like
“Who?”
“We're still tracing it.”
