Chapter 8
Laura made the decision the next morning.
She was moving immediately.
Not when she found the perfect house.
Not after the semester.
Now.
Vincent did not argue.
He offered one of his legitimate corporate apartments temporarily because it had independent security and no family operations.
Laura accepted for thirty days only.
Then she would lease somewhere herself.
More importantly, she reported Margaret’s assault on Emma.
Vincent backed her.
That decision split the family.
Margaret was sixty-eight.
Respected.
Connected.
The older relatives expected the matter to be handled privately.
Vincent refused.
A three-year-old had been knocked onto a ballroom floor in front of dozens of witnesses.
There was nothing private left to protect.
Law enforcement interviewed staff and guests.
The family physician documented Emma’s injuries.
Laura sought a protective order barring Margaret from contact with either child.
Margaret’s attorney accused Laura of overreacting.
Laura did not change course.
David chose to leave the estate with his mother and sister.
Margaret sent him another message.
He showed it to investigators without answering.
Once you walk out with them, coming back will mean something different.
That message frightened Laura.
It angered Vincent.
It devastated David.
“What does that even mean?”
Vincent answered carefully.
“It means she wants you to think love has conditions.”
David stared at him.
“Does it?”
Vincent thought about the family he had spent fifty-six years leading.
Too often, yes.
He looked at his grandson.
“It shouldn’t.”
Laura’s decision could not easily be reversed now.
The children were out.
Authorities were involved.
Margaret had been cut off.
And several senior family members had openly chosen sides.
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Whatever Margaret intended at the banquet, she had succeeded in forcing the Moretti family toward a choice.
Just not necessarily the choice she expected.
