Another pause. “But I am coming to see you . Next weekend. Without telling Mother. Let her sit in her empty mansion and wonder.”
“To my daughter Celeste, one pound—‘for she chose commerce over family, and coin over kinship.’”
The room stopped breathing. Leo spoke first. “He’d never agree.”
Vivien stood. “There is no Samuel.”
“He was a tyrant,” Celeste shot back. “And you were his warden.”
Vivien’s mask cracked. “I wanted to protect this family.”