Chapter 2
I moved Maisie out of the lounge first.
Not because I wanted her hidden.
Because she had already spent enough time being turned into evidence.
June took her into the breakfast room while my physician came to examine her hand.
No burn.
No fracture.
Just reddened skin from struggling near the heat and a bruised wrist where Celeste had gripped her.
Enough.
I returned to the lounge.
Silas remained standing.
Celeste had lost her engagement ring somewhere between arrogance and fear.
Gavin found a chair and sat.
I stayed on my feet.
“Explain the proof.”
Silas exhaled.
“After Amelia died, you changed.”
“Yes.”
“You started canceling council dinners when Maisie was sick.”
“Yes.”
“You moved meetings when she needed you.”
“Yes.”
“You stopped sending younger family members to Northgate for discipline.”
“Yes.”
Each answer irritated him more.
Then I understood.
The accusation had been built before the event.
They only needed a picture to complete it.
Celeste would claim I lost control.
Maisie would say Daddy burned her.
Gavin would confirm I had become volatile.
The council would not remove me permanently.
Not at first.
They would invoke something called the Hearth Rule.
I had heard the name once.
Never used.
“What happens under the Hearth Rule?”
Silas answered.
“The boss steps away from domestic command while senior family evaluates whether the household remains safe.”
I almost laughed.
“Domestic command.”
A respectful phrase for taking my daughter away from me.
“Where does Maisie go?”
No answer.
“Silas.”
“Northgate.”
My body went cold.
Northgate Estate.
An old Marlowe property where children were historically sent when powerful parents were judged “too compromised” to raise them properly.
“How long?”
“Thirty days.”
Gavin finally spoke.
“Maybe less.”
I looked at him.
He stopped.
Thirty days was enough.
Remove Maisie.
Question my judgment.
Place Silas over the council temporarily.
Then let every decision made during those thirty days become the new normal.
May you like
They were not planning to overthrow me with guns.
They were planning to make me surrender power because a terrified child said the sentence they forced into her mouth.
