Chapter 6 - The House That Was Never Theirs
The Northstar Lodge stood two hours outside the city, surrounded by pine trees and mountains.
Nicholas had purchased the struggling hotel years earlier and transformed it into a retreat for Northstar employees and their families.
The lobby was decorated with a thirty-foot Christmas tree. Staff members had prepared a private suite with warm blankets, hot chocolate, and a small collection of gifts for Mackenzie.
When they arrived, Evelyn was waiting.
She was in her early fifties, with silver-streaked hair and the calm presence of someone who had survived every corporate crisis without raising her voice.
Mackenzie knew her as Aunt Evelyn.
Evelyn knelt beside her.
“I heard our chief inspector had a difficult night.”
Mackenzie nodded.
“Grandpa said Daddy is a loser.”
Evelyn looked at Nicholas, then back at Mackenzie.
“Your daddy built the company that gave more than twelve thousand people their jobs.”
Mackenzie blinked.
“Daddy built Northstar?”
“With a lot of help,” Nicholas said.
Evelyn smiled.
“He always says that.”
Mackenzie stared at her father as though seeing him for the first time.
“Are you the boss?”
“I’m one of them.”
“The biggest boss?”
Nicholas sighed.
“Technically.”
For the first time that evening, Mackenzie smiled.
At eight the next morning, the Bellamy emails were delivered.
By eight fifteen, Frank had called Nicholas eleven times.
Nicholas did not answer.
Isabella called twenty-three times.
He answered only after Mackenzie finished breakfast.
“What did you do?” Isabella demanded.
“I ended unauthorized financial support.”
“You can’t throw my family out of their home.”
“They have thirty days and the option to pay market rent.”
“My father’s contracts are gone.”
“Suspended pending investigation.”
“You planned this.”
“The audit began months ago. Last night determined whether I would delay the consequences again.”
Isabella became quiet.
“You own Northstar?”
“Yes.”
“All of it?”
“Enough.”
“You lied to me.”
“I told you when we married that I founded a property company.”
“You made it sound small.”
“It was small then.”
“You should have told me what you were worth.”
Nicholas looked through the window at Mackenzie making snow angels with Evelyn.
“You knew what I was worth when we lived in a two-bedroom apartment.”
“That’s different.”
“No. It only became different when you decided money was the only reason to respect me.”
Isabella’s voice cracked.
“Come back. We can discuss this.”
“You threw our daughter outside on Christmas Eve.”
“My father was angry.”
“And you stood beside him.”
“I made a mistake.”
“A mistake is forgetting an appointment. You filed for divorce, demanded custody, and allowed a grown man to call our child’s father a loser while she cried.”
Isabella began to sob.
Nicholas felt pain, but not doubt.
“The divorce will continue,” he said. “All communication goes through our attorneys.”
He ended the call.
Across the city, the Bellamy mansion no longer felt grand.
May you like
Without Nicholas’s protection, it was simply a borrowed house filled with frightened people.
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