Chapter 10
Vivienne turned toward Gerald.
“You never told me that.”
He shrugged.
“You didn't need to know.”
Her face hardened.
“Lily was supposed to be back before sunset.”
Gerald smiled.
“Maybe.”
Nora stared.
Vivienne looked at him.
For the first time, disgust appeared.
“You were going to keep a three-year-old until he gave you rank.”
Gerald laughed.
“You were going to take her in the first place.”
That silenced her.
He stepped closer.
“Don't discover morality because my version had better leverage.”
Vivienne’s jaw tightened.
Gerald continued.
“You wanted Alessandro to choose his chair over Lily.”
“You wanted her to remember that.”
His eyes became cruel.
“Every time she reached for him afterward, you wanted her wondering whether he would choose her next time.”
Vivienne said nothing.
That was true.
Alessandro saw it.
The major betrayal became clearer.
Vivienne did not merely want authority.
She wanted Lily emotionally separated from him.
Why?
Nora answered before anyone asked.
“She hates Elena.”
Vivienne’s head snapped toward her.
Nora immediately looked frightened.
Gerald smiled.
“There it is.”
Alessandro’s expression changed at the name.
Elena.
Lily’s late mother.
Vivienne’s fingers tightened around her engagement ring.
Alessandro looked at Nora.
“What do you mean?”
Nora swallowed.
“Vivienne talks about her when she thinks Lily is asleep.”
Vivienne stepped forward.
“You fat little eavesdropper—”
Alessandro moved between them.
Vivienne stopped.
Her face burned with rage.
Nora continued.
“She says Elena still runs this house from the grave.”
Silence.
Alessandro stared at Vivienne.
Nora’s voice shook.
“She says every time Lily looks at you, you remember Elena.”
Vivienne laughed bitterly.
“Well?”
She looked at Alessandro.
“Do you?”
No answer.
Her eyes filled with anger.
Not sadness.
Possession.
“You keep her portraits.”
“Her garden.”
“Her stupid blue room.”
“You kept her maid.”
Nora flinched.
Vivienne pointed.
“And then there’s Lily.”
Her voice sharpened.
“The perfect little shrine with Elena’s eyes.”
Alessandro’s face hardened.
Vivienne continued.
“You ask why I wanted her at another table?”
She laughed.
“Because I am tired of sitting across from a dead woman every time your daughter looks at me.”
The garden went silent.
Lily had not been targeted merely as leverage.
Vivienne resented her for existing.
Gerald smiled.
“She finally said it.”
Vivienne turned on him.
“You fed it.”
His smile widened.
For years Gerald had told Vivienne Alessandro would never truly choose her while Lily remained at the center of the household.
He fed her jealousy.
Encouraged every comparison to Elena.
Reminded her that staff still called the west garden “Elena’s garden.”
That Lily inherited her mother’s eyes.
That Alessandro softened only for his daughter.
Gerald did not create Vivienne’s resentment.
He sharpened it.
Then Nico reached into his coat.
Bodyguards tensed.
He removed a silver locket.
Alessandro froze.
Elena’s.
Lost since the week she died.
Vivienne’s face went white.
Nico held it up.
“She gave me this.”
Alessandro slowly turned toward Vivienne.
Nico continued.
“She said it proved Elena’s old people would recognize her authority.”
Vivienne’s arrogance vanished for one heartbeat.
Then returned.
Alessandro’s voice became almost inaudible.
“Where did you get my wife’s locket?”
Vivienne looked at Gerald.
May you like
He smiled.
Because that secret belonged to him.
