Chapter 8: The Secret Ally**
The night before the gala, a knock sounded at Claire’s apartment door. Standing in the hallway was not a process server, but Elena—Leo’s live-in nanny, a woman who had raised the boy since infancy under Victoria’s cold supervision. Elena stepped inside quickly, pulling a thumb drive and a child’s sketchbook from her purse.
"Leo hasn't spoken a word since that night," Elena whispered, tears welling in her eyes. "He drew this. Over and over." Claire opened the sketchbook. On every page, Leo had drawn a woman in a gray dress standing beside a tall window, labeled with the simple word: *Mom*. "Victoria locked him in his suite," Elena continued. "She plans to send him to a boarding school in Switzerland immediately after tomorrow's gala to keep him away from the press. You have to stop her." Claire held the drawing to her chest, feeling the pulse of her son's love across the divide of wealth and iron gates.
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