Chapter 10 - Lorraine Finally Understood Who My Brother Really Was
Lorraine requested a private meeting.
Valerie advised against attending, but Cole had a different idea.
“Let her talk,” he said. “Only not alone.”
So Lorraine came to Valerie’s office expecting negotiation.
She got a table, three lawyers, my brother, and me.
The moment she saw Cole there, her expression tightened.
“This is unnecessary.”
Cole leaned back. “So was slapping a pregnant woman in your foyer.”
Lorraine ignored him and looked at me.
“Hailey, you are making a catastrophic mistake. Marriage involves conflict. Wealth complicates it. But if you proceed this way, you destroy any chance of civility for your child.”
I stared at her.
“You used my child as leverage.”
“I protected my son’s future.”
“You tried to steal my baby’s future.”
Her jaw tightened.
Then she tried the final tactic women like her always use when manipulation begins to fail.
She reached for pity.
“You have no idea what I sacrificed to build this family.”
Cole laughed once under his breath.
Lorraine turned to him sharply. “What is so amusing?”
He leaned forward.
“That you still think this is your family to build.”
She went pale—not from fear, not yet, but from anger at being spoken to that way.
Cole’s voice dropped lower.
“You mistook Hailey for someone isolated. You mistook her for a woman too frightened to fight back. And you mistook me for a brother who would calm down and move on.”
He held her gaze.
“You were wrong on all three.”
For the first time since this began, Lorraine truly had no answer.
When she left, she walked faster than she had entered.
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And I remember thinking: She finally understands that the world she built around silence is collapsing.
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