Chapter Seventy-Nine: The Grandmother's Wisdom

Victoria's penthouse felt like stepping into a different world after the chaos of the warehouse. Soft lighting, fresh flowers, and the kind of quiet that came from actual security instead of just the illusion of it. She was sitting in her favorite chair by the window, looking out at Central Park with a cup of tea in her hands.

"You look like hell," she said without turning around when I walked in.

"Good to see you too, Grandmother," I said, settling into the chair across from her. "How are you feeling?"

"Like a woman who got shot three weeks ago and is tired of everyone asking how she feels." Victoria's eyes moved to the bandage on Jules's forehead, then to the way I was unconsciously protecting my stomach with my hands. "But I'm guessing you've had a worse day than me."

"You could say that."

Jules dropped into the couch with a grunt. "Your granddaughter almost got trampled to death by a mob of fake reporters sent by your son-in-law's psychotic mother."

"I heard." Victoria set down her teacup with the kind of precision that meant she was thinking. "Lydia always was theatrical. Even in business school, she had to make everything a production."

"You knew her in business school?"

"Harvard, class of '89. She was two years behind me, but everyone knew Lydia Thornton. Smart as hell, ruthless as a shark, and absolutely convinced that the world owed her everything she wanted."

"Thornton?"

"Her maiden name. She married into the Blackwood fortune, but she built her reputation on her own." Victoria picked up her tea again, studying my face over the rim. "She's not going to stop, you know."

"I know."

"The question is, what are you going to do about it?"

I leaned back in the chair, feeling the exhaustion of the day settling into my bones. "Dominic wants to increase security. Harrison's talking about federal charges. I'm thinking about buying every media outlet that's been attacking me and turning them into weapons."

"All good ideas," Victoria said. "All reactive."

"What do you mean?"

"You're responding to her moves instead of making your own. Lydia is controlling the game because she's setting the rules." Victoria put down her cup and looked at me directly. "That's not how you win a war against someone like her."

"Then how do you win?"

"You stop fighting her war and start fighting yours."

Jules shifted on the couch, wincing as the movement pulled at something. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means Lydia expects Scarlett to be emotional. Reactive. She's counting on you to lash out, to make mistakes driven by anger and fear." Victoria's voice was calm, educational. "She wants you to prove her point that you're too unstable to handle power."

"So what do I do instead?"

"You be calculating. Cold. You use your brain instead of your heart, and you destroy her so completely that she never recovers."

The way Victoria said it, so matter-of-fact, sent a chill down my spine. This was the woman who'd built a global empire from nothing. The woman who'd survived decades of corporate warfare.

"How?"

"By understanding what she actually wants." Victoria stood up, moving to the window. "Lydia doesn't care about the Van Alston inheritance. She doesn't give a damn about your mental health or your fitness to run companies."

"Then what does she want?"

"Control over her son. That's all she's ever wanted." Victoria turned back to face me. "Dominic was supposed to be her legacy, her way of building something that would last beyond her own life. When he chose you over her plans, she lost the only thing that ever really mattered to her."

"So this is all about Dominic?"

"This is all about a mother who spent thirty years grooming her son to be her weapon, only to watch him choose love over duty." Victoria's smile was sharp. "The inheritance, the media attacks, the attempts on your life - they're all just means to an end. She wants to destroy you so completely that Dominic comes crawling back to her."

"That's never going to happen."

"I know that. You know that. But Lydia doesn't know that. She still thinks there's a price that will make him abandon you."

Jules looked up from the couch. "So how do we use that against her?"

"By making her think she's winning," Victoria said. "Right up until the moment she realizes she's already lost."

I studied my grandmother's face, seeing the calculating intelligence that had made her one of the most feared businesswomen in the world. "What are you suggesting?"

"I'm suggesting you stop reacting to her moves and start anticipating them. Stop defending yourself and start attacking her weaknesses."

"What weaknesses?"

"Pride. Arrogance. The absolute certainty that she's smarter than everyone else in the room." Victoria moved back to her chair, settling into it like a queen on her throne. "Lydia has spent so much time focused on you that she's left herself exposed in other areas."

"Such as?"

"Her business relationships. Her political connections. The carefully cultivated image she's spent decades building." Victoria picked up a folder from the side table. "I've been making some calls while I've been recovering. Amazing what people will tell you when they think you're dying."

She handed me the folder. Inside were financial documents, photographs, and what looked like correspondence between various business leaders.

"What am I looking at?"

"Proof that Lydia Blackwood has been using Blackwood Industries resources to fund personal vendettas for years. Not just against you - against anyone who's ever threatened her control over Dominic."

I flipped through the pages, my eyes widening as I realized what I was seeing. "Holy shit."

"Language, dear," Victoria said mildly. "But yes, it's quite damning."

The documents showed a pattern of corporate malfeasance going back over a decade. Blackwood Industries funds diverted to shell companies, those companies used to finance everything from media hit pieces to private investigators to what looked like actual corporate espionage.

"How did you get this?"

"I have friends in interesting places. And Lydia made the mistake of crossing some of those friends over the years." Victoria's smile was predatory. "Corporate America is a small world, Scarlett. Eventually, everyone's secrets come to light."

"This is enough to destroy her."

"This is enough to destroy the Blackwood empire," Victoria corrected. "Which is why you're not going to use it."

"What?"

"If you release this information, you'll destroy Dominic's company along with his mother. Is that really what you want?"

I stared at the documents, understanding the trap. This evidence could end Lydia's threat permanently, but it would also destroy everything Dominic had worked for his entire life.

"There has to be another way."

"There is," Victoria said. "But it requires patience. Strategy. The ability to think ten moves ahead instead of just reacting to the current crisis."

"I'm listening."

"You use this information as leverage, not as a weapon. You show Lydia that you have the power to destroy her, but you give her a way out."

"What kind of way out?"

"Complete withdrawal from all activities related to you, your marriage, your inheritance, and your business dealings. She disappears from your life entirely, and in exchange, her secrets stay buried."

Jules sat up straighter. "What if she doesn't take the deal?"

"Then you destroy her," Victoria said simply. "But you give her the choice first. You show her that you're not the emotional, reactive girl she thinks you are. You prove that you're capable of the kind of cold, calculated decision-making that real power requires."

I closed the folder, my mind racing through the implications. "When do I make the approach?"

"Soon. But not immediately. First, you let her think she's winning. Let her believe that today's attack accomplished what she wanted - that you're scared, reactive, making mistakes."

"How do I do that?"

"You make a public statement. Something emotional, defensive. You give interviews where you look shaken. You let the media think that Lydia's strategy is working."

"That feels like surrendering."

"That's strategic thinking," Victoria corrected. "You're not surrendering. You're setting a trap."

My phone buzzed. A text from Harrison: *Urgent. Need to meet. Found something about the board.*

I showed the message to Victoria, who frowned as she read it.

"What do you think that's about?" I asked.

"Nothing good," Victoria said, reaching for her own phone. "Harrison doesn't send urgent messages unless something significant has happened."

She dialed a number, putting the call on speaker. Harrison answered on the first ring.

"Mrs. Van Alston. I was hoping you'd call."

"What did you find, Harrison?"

"Lydia Blackwood has been more active than we realized. We've identified meetings between her and three Van Alston board members over the past week."

My blood went cold. "Which board members?"

"Catherine Mills, Robert Chen, and Margaret Foster. All three have received significant payments through offshore accounts linked to the same shell companies funding the media campaign."

"She's buying votes," I said, understanding flooding through me.

"It appears so. The meetings were at a private club in the Hamptons. Very discreet, very expensive, very off the record."

Victoria's expression had gone deadly calm. "What were they discussing?"

"Based on the financial transfers and the timing, we believe they were discussing a motion to review Scarlett's competency as head of Van Alston Industries."

"Can they do that?" I asked.

"Technically, yes," Victoria said. "If enough board members petition for a competency review, they can force a psychological evaluation and temporary suspension of executive privileges."

"How many votes would they need?"

"Seven out of twelve," Harrison said. "Right now, they have three confirmed. They need four more."

I felt that familiar cold rage settling in my chest, but this time it was different. This time it was controlled, focused.

"Victoria," I said, my voice calm. "I think it's time to spring that trap."

"Are you sure? Once you start down this path, there's no going back."

I thought about the mob in the lobby. About Jules bleeding on the floor. About the terror I'd felt when I thought I might lose the baby.

About the fact that Lydia Blackwood was now trying to steal my inheritance by buying off my own board members.

"I'm sure," I said. "It's time to end this."

Victoria smiled, and for the first time since I'd known her, it looked genuinely proud.

"Good," she said. "Because I have some calls to make."