Chapter 7: Fractured Loyalties
The nursery grew impossibly cold as Maria’s words hung in the air, heavy and poisonous. Arthur stared at the nanny, his mind racing through a mental Rolodex of business associates, board members, and disgruntled former partners. "Give me a name, Maria. Right now. Or I swear I will ensure you spend the next twenty years behind bars for grand larceny and identity theft."
Maria clutched the baby tighter, the infant stirring slightly in his sleep at the sharp rise in volume. "I can't give you a name without destroying whatever is left of your family, Mr. Vance. Let’s just say that not everyone who sits at your dinner table wishes you well. Some people have very long memories and very deep grudges dating back to the corporate merger five years ago—the one where your father’s partner was pushed out without a dime."
Elena’s breath hitched. The mention of the merger five years ago struck a raw, exposed nerve. That was the foundational transaction that had propelled the Vance estate into its current tier of immense wealth—and it was also the exact period during which Arthur’s older brother, Julian, had mysteriously cut all ties with the family and vanished overseas after a bitter public dispute over the agricultural land deeds.
"Julian," Elena whispered, the name tasting like ash in her mouth. She looked up at her husband, searching his face for confirmation. "Arthur... could Julian have anything to do with this? Is he behind the offshore accounts?"
Arthur staggered back a half-step, his hand gripping the edge of the white wooden crib for support. The color drained entirely from his face, leaving him looking suddenly old and exhausted. "Julian hasn't set foot in this state in over half a decade. He’s living in Europe—or at least, that’s what our corporate legal team was told when we bought out his remaining shares of the trust."
"People change locations, Arthur, but greed is remarkably consistent," Maria said coldly, shifting the baby as the infant began to stir more vigorously. "Now, if you want your son's trust fund intact by sunrise, you’ll let me walk out of these front doors right now. Because the person pulling my strings doesn't just want the north pasture. They want the entire estate, lock, stock, and barrel."
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Arthur reached out, his hand trembling slightly as he grabbed Maria by the fabric of her black sleeve, ignoring the sleeping infant for a split second in his overwhelming fury. "You aren't going anywhere until you unlock that phone on the floor and show me the incoming call log."
Before Arthur could bend down to retrieve the burner device, a sudden, sharp chime echoed from the hallway outside the nursery. It was the security system’s master panel near the master suite, signaling that one of the perimeter service gates on the estate had just been manually opened from the outside.
