Chapter 12
Alessandra invited Sybil to a private dining room at the hotel.
Gavin came.
Vanessa came with her attorney.
Ethan refused until his lawyer advised him that refusing would not stop the foundation investigation.
They sat around the same long table where family holiday dinners had once been held.
No gala guests.
No capos.
No audience.
Alessandra preferred it that way.
Sybil looked at Gavin first.
“You’ve embarrassed yourself enough.”
Gavin did not react.
Alessandra placed the fabricated DNA report on the table.
“Who made it?”
Sybil looked at the page.
“I don’t know.”
Vanessa spoke.
“Ethan gave it to me.”
Ethan turned toward her.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“Telling the truth before Milo grows up and finds out I lied about who his father was.”
“You never told Gavin he was the father.”
“I let him believe it.”
Vanessa’s voice broke slightly.
“That’s bad enough.”
Ethan pushed his chair backward.
Sybil snapped, “Sit down.”
Everyone looked at her.
The command had come too quickly.
Too naturally.
Ethan sat.
Alessandra almost felt sorry for him.
Almost.
Gavin looked at his mother.
“You paid them before Milo was born.”
“I helped people connected to this family.”
“You kept Vanessa nearby for years.”
“I knew you weren’t happy.”
“So you found me a replacement?”
Sybil’s composure finally cracked.
“I tried to give you a life that belonged to you.”
Gavin stared at her.
“My life did belong to me.”
“No. It belonged to her.”
She pointed toward Alessandra.
“There it is,” Alessandra said.
Sybil turned.
“You took everything my husband intended for Gavin.”
“Your husband appointed me because Gavin didn’t want the work.”
“He would have grown into it.”
“You didn’t give him the chance,” Sybil snapped.
Gavin laughed once.
Not happily.
“Mom, I had every chance.”
Sybil looked at him.
He continued.
“I just liked being angry at Alessandra more than I liked admitting she was better at the job.”
That hurt him to say.
Alessandra could see it.
Sybil could too.
Her son had just removed the grievance she had spent years feeding.
Ethan stood again.
“This is done.”
Rebecca, seated near the door, spoke for the first time.
“Actually, it isn’t.”
She placed several foundation invoices beside the fake laboratory report.
May you like
One of Ethan’s companies had billed the foundation for “family genetic consulting.”
The date matched the week Sybil gave Gavin the fake DNA result.
