Chapter 6 - The Unraveling Web
The resignation of Marcus Sterling sent shockwaves through the Pacific Northwest financial sector, but the true battle was just beginning. Victoria Vance and her father, Chief Justice Vance, were not people who accepted public humiliation lightly.
On Wednesday afternoon, Lucas’s mother, Eleanor Davenport, arrived at his penthouse apartment in Madison Park. At sixty-eight, Eleanor was a woman who had traded her soul for a zip code. She walked into the luxurious living room, her designer heels clicking against the marble, her eyes narrowing as she saw Clara sitting on the terrace, watching Lila play with a small remote-controlled boat in the pool.
"What is that woman doing in this house, Lucas?" Eleanor demanded, her voice tight with aristocratic fury. "Have you forgotten what we went through to clear your path? The Vance family controls the regulatory boards. If you don't marry Victoria, the Vance family will ensure that Davenport Enterprises is tied up in anti-trust litigation for the next ten years!"
Lucas stood by the fireplace, a glass of untouched scotch in his hand. He looked at his mother, seeing for the first time the hollow, desperate ambition that had poisoned his childhood.
"You knew Clara was pregnant when you ran her out of the city, didn't you, Mother?" Lucas asked softly.
Eleanor didn't flinch. She adjusted her pearl necklace with a cold, practiced indifference. "Of course I knew. That made her twice as dangerous. A child from a girl like that would have been a permanent anchor around your neck, tying you to the mud of Pittsburgh. I raised you to be a king, Lucas. Kings do not marry girls who smell like laundry detergent."
"You didn't raise a king, Mother," Lucas said, his voice cracking with a sudden, profound grief. "You raised a ghost. I’ve spent seven years sitting in empty rooms, counting money that couldn't buy me a single night of real peace. I watched my own daughter ask for scraps in a restaurant I own because her mother couldn't afford medicine for her asthma."
"She’s an opportunist!" Eleanor hissed, pointing a manicured finger toward the terrace. "She targeted you at Le Ciel! It was a set-up!"
"Lila came into that restaurant because she was hungry, Mother," Lucas said, walking toward her until he was inches away. "The same way I was hungry when we lived in that tenement on 5th Avenue. Have you forgotten what that feels like? Or did the diamonds blind you completely?"
Eleanor stepped back, her face twisting into a mask of bitter resentment. "I did what I had to do to get us out of that hell! You should be thanking me!"
"Your access to the Davenport family accounts has been revoked," Lucas said clearly. "The townhouse in Palm Beach and the estate in Aspen are being sold. The proceeds will go directly to the Davenport Foundation’s new initiative for single mothers in the industrial sectors. You will have a monthly stipend from a private trust, conditional on your complete departure from this city. You will never see Lila again."
May you like
Eleanor gasped, her hand flying to her chest. "You're banishing your own mother? For her?"
"No," Lucas said, turning his back on her to look out at the terrace where Clara was laughing at something Lila had done. "I’m banishing a ghost. So my family can finally breathe."
