Chapter 3 - Eleven Million Dollars)
Julian placed Conrad's phone on the library table.
"I found it outside."
Conrad stared at him.
"You should have kept walking."
Julian glanced toward Samuel.
"I assume you've already turned this into a legal circus."
Samuel folded Celeste's letter.
"I assume you've already called your own attorney."
Julian smiled.
"I don't need one."
"Men who say that usually do."
Agatha stepped closer to Julian.
That alone told Conrad more than either of them seemed to understand.
They stood together instinctively.
Not mother and family friend.
Partners.
Conrad carried Elliot toward the sofa.
The boy stirred.
"Daddy?"
"I'm here."
Elliot opened his eyes.
He saw Agatha.
His body immediately tightened.
Conrad felt it.
So did Samuel.
Agatha saw it too.
Instead of shame, irritation crossed her face.
Conrad turned his back to his mother and whispered to Elliot.
"Do you want to stay with me or go upstairs with Mrs. Hart?"
Mrs. Hart had been the Bellafonte housekeeper for twenty years.
Elliot thought about it.
"With you."
"Okay."
Conrad sat with him.
Agatha sighed.
"This is exactly the problem. You reward every emotional outburst."
Conrad did not look at her.
"Leave."
"This is my home too."
"No."
Agatha blinked.
Conrad finally raised his eyes.
"This estate belongs to me. Your residency agreement exists because I permitted it after Dad died."
"You wouldn't dare."
"You chained my child to stone."
"It was temporary."
"You let strangers walk past him for hours."
"He needed to learn."
"Leave the room."
Agatha looked toward Julian.
Julian nodded slightly.
She left.
That subtle exchange did not escape Samuel.
The attorney watched the doorway close.
"Interesting."
Julian folded his arms.
"What?"
"You gave her permission."
Julian's smile weakened.
Conrad handed Elliot a wooden toy car from the coffee table.
"Tell me about North Vale."
Julian's eyes changed.
"Nothing to tell."
"Eleven million dollars."
"Consulting fees."
"For what?"
"Family business."
"I am the family business."
"Your mother authorized it."
"She didn't have authority."
Julian shrugged.
"Apparently someone disagreed."
Samuel placed the trust amendment on the desk.
"Dominic Bellafonte's succession proxy expired on his death."
Julian looked at the paper.
His confidence faltered.
Only slightly.
Samuel continued.
"Any transfer issued under that proxy afterward could constitute fraud."
Julian laughed.
"Could."
"Depending on intent."
"Exactly."
Samuel picked up Celeste's letter.
"And your attempt to recover concealed evidence from a four year old?"
Julian's smile vanished.
Conrad stood.
He handed Elliot to Samuel.
Samuel looked surprised.
Conrad walked slowly toward Julian.
Julian straightened.
"Don't."
Conrad stopped less than a foot away.
"You spoke to my son."
Julian swallowed.
"You touched him."
"I never hurt him."
"You called him an animal."
Julian glanced toward the door.
Conrad leaned closer.
"If Samuel were not standing behind me, you would already be leaving this house through a different wall."
Samuel cleared his throat.
"That is not a legally useful sentence."
Conrad did not move.
Julian forced a grin.
"This is why Agatha needed help."
Conrad's eyes narrowed.
"Help with what?"
"You."
Samuel looked up.
Julian realized he had said too much.
Conrad saw it.
"Keep talking."
Julian stepped backward.
"You disappear into work. Celeste dies and you hide in boardrooms. Your mother raises your son half the time while you fly around pretending you're holding the family together."
Conrad's jaw tightened.
The words hurt because parts of them were true.
After Celeste died, Conrad had worked obsessively.
Not because he did not love Elliot.
Because every room in the house reminded him of the woman he had lost.
Business became a place where grief could be converted into numbers.
Problems had solutions.
Loss did not.
Agatha had stepped in.
She offered to help.
At first, Conrad had been grateful.
Then gradually, she controlled Elliot's schedule.
His meals.
His clothes.
His preschool.
Which staff cared for him.
Conrad had noticed pieces of it.
He had not understood the whole.
Julian saw the uncertainty in his face.
"Your mother did what you couldn't."
Elliot suddenly spoke.
"Grandma says Daddy doesn't want me."
The room went silent.
Conrad turned.
Elliot sat against Samuel's side, holding the wooden car.
His eyes were lowered.
Conrad crossed the room immediately.
"What did you say?"
Elliot looked frightened.
"Grandma says you're always gone because I make you sad."
Conrad crouched.
"No."
"Because Mommy died."
"No."
"She says you look at me and see Mommy and it hurts."
Conrad felt something inside him collapse.
Julian looked toward the doorway.
Samuel's face became cold.
Conrad took Elliot's small hands.
"Listen to me. I travel because I made bad choices about work. That is my fault. Never yours."
Elliot watched him.
"I love looking at you."
The boy's mouth trembled.
"You have Mommy's smile."
Elliot touched his own face.
Conrad almost broke.
He pulled his son into his arms.
Behind them, Julian quietly stepped toward the door.
Samuel noticed.
"Going somewhere?"
Julian stopped.
Conrad did not turn around.
"Let him go."
Samuel frowned.
Conrad continued holding Elliot.
"Let him leave."
Julian stared at him suspiciously.
Then he walked out.
Samuel waited until his footsteps disappeared.
"Why?"
Conrad looked toward the memory card.
"Because if he thinks we're calling police immediately, he'll destroy whatever is left."
Samuel understood.
"You think there's more."
"My wife wrote, if they find out."
Conrad lifted the card.
"That means they were still looking for something."
Samuel glanced at the broken envelope.
"What?"
Conrad looked toward the dark garden beyond the library windows.
"I don't know."
Elliot raised his head.
"The little door."
Conrad looked down.
"What little door?"
"In Grandma's wall."
Samuel froze.
Conrad's attention sharpened.
"What wall?"
Elliot pointed toward the west wing.
"The room where Grandma says I'm never allowed."
Conrad stood.
Agatha's private sitting room was in the west wing.
It had once belonged to Dominic Bellafonte.
And suddenly Conrad remembered something his father had told him when he was a child.
Every old house has places built for secrets.
May you like
Conrad had assumed Dominic was joking.
Now he was not so sure.
