Lorenzo heard muffled crying behind the enormous Bellandi family portrait during a private welcome party.
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Chapter 12 / 17
Chapter 12
I removed Victoria and Marcus from every household channel that depended on me.
No staff instructions.
No event authority.
No child access.
No security requests made in my name.
Marcus called it humiliation.
Victoria called it betrayal.
I called it accuracy.
“You still have your own lives,” I told them.
Marcus laughed bitterly.
“Without Bellandi access, what exactly do I have?”
That answer was revealing.
I looked at him.
“Whatever you actually built.”
Silence.
Too much of his identity depended on standing beside mine.
That was his problem.
Not Isabella’s.
Victoria threatened that older relatives would choose sides.
“Let them.”
She stared.
“You would divide the family for a child?”
“No.”
May you like
I shook my head.
“You divided it when you decided a child was beneath it.”
