جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 110

Dennis’s povThe door to the room opened. I didn’t turn. I couldn’t take my eyes off the shit that was happening on the screen.“Hey, sorry man, it’s just a job…” Alex said and started muttering something as he walked past me.I heard his sharp intake of breath. Then, a second later, the TV screen went black. I looked at my hands to see he has collected the remote and turned off the tv.I slowly turned to him in shock to see Alex standing there with the remote in his hand.“Dennis, I…” he started, his voice rough.“What is going on Alex?” Was all I could mutter out.He started forward, hand extended. “It’s… it’s nothing. Just a tall tale. I’ve got it under control… I can make it right. I can fix it.”“Fix it?” The words were louder, filled with a rage I couldn’t leash. “They’re saying I seduced you! They’re saying I forged documents! They called me a parasite on national television! And then …  they showed my mother, Alex! They showed her!”My voice shred at the last word. Tremors ra

Leticia’s povI slammed the door behind me as I went to the car where Lyon was standing outside it. He was scheming something there. “We should go,” I said in a tired voice. “He needs space. We’re just making it worse.”Lyon didn’t turn around. He just let out a short, dismissive sigh that was more a puff of steam in the cool air than anything else. “He needs a reality check, is what he needs.”He got into the driver’s side as I entered beside him and he turned the car on. As he drove us back home I didn’t say anything to him which had him looking at me. “The fucking nerve,” he started, his hands tensing around the steering wheel. “Of kicking me out of my his house. My house, really, trust still owns the deed to it. For that… that fucking nobody.”I said nothing. I just watched the manicured lawns and towering gates of the neighborhood blur past.“And the boy. Did you see? Skulking off to his stupid words. No backbone. Can’t even face the music. If he had any integrity, he’d leave.

Leticias povEleanor’s voice slid out across the hall before I’d even let my bag fall. ‘…the expense as much as anything else. Frankly I don’t know what Leticia was ever thinking, to let it go this far. That child of hers has always been so difficult. There’s a limit to everyone’s patience.’The twins chuckled, a low, nasty sound. Julian shook his head. “Poor Uncle Lyon. To have his legacy tarnished like this. Alex sure knows how to make everyone worry over him like a child.”At that moment something snapped in my head as I turned to them and dropped my bag loudly on the coffee table that drew their attention. “Leticia!” She said as she looked at me. “We didn’t realise you’d come in. We were just…”“I heard exactly what you were just saying,” I interrupted, my voice low and venomous. “Imagine it Eleanor. How many times do you think your precious boys have been arrested?”The room fell deathly silent. You could’ve heard a pin drop on the Persian rug.Eleanor’s mouth moved without sou

Sophia’s povI arrived at the venue and got in with a certain glow about me. This place was more my style than anything.I spotted her right away. Eleanor, tucked into the corner banquette like it had been built for her alone. She saw me and smiled while waving me over as I walked with a smile.“Sophia, darling!” she smiled and air kissed me as I did the same while sitting before her.“Oh my. I have missed you so much. It feels like forever.”“This city becomes so dreadfully dull without one’s favorite sparring partner.” She looked at me and nodded. “How have you been, my dear? Truly?”“Keeping busy. Trying to move on. It’s not easy.” I let the words shake a little, soft enough to sound wounded.“Of course it isn’t,” she said, soft with sympathy, though her eyes stayed flat. She sipped her martini, careful as ever. “And your family? How is your mother?”We went back and forth for a while, trading lines we both knew didn’t mean much. The charity boards, the new art at the Met, the sor

Leticia’s povI gathered them in the drawing room like a queen calling her court. It wasn’t a show, but I wanted full attention. I looked around the room and the chandeliers sparkled down. I watched them walk in with confused looks as they wondered what I was doing. My husband stood by the door with his head tilted to the side as he read me.I waited until the murmuring finally died down. That was part of it, the pause… makes them listen, makes them uneasy. Then I stood, smoothing my dress, feeling the room tilt just slightly toward me because that’s what family does: they orbit you when the subject is serious.“Everyone,” I said, and it cut through the last whisper like a knife. Heads turned to me. “So I have something to say to you all that is very important,” I said. “We are hosting the gala tomorrow night. It will be lovely. It will be perfect. And I want, I expect, absolute decorum.”A few polite chuckles, the kind that fill the air when people find tension they don’t want to a