“For fifteen years?”
“She would have exposed everything.”
“Everything being your daughter?”
“It happened before we met.”
“Then why hide it?”
He did not answer.
I held up one of the trust statements.
“Why did you steal from me?”
“I managed the money.”
“You forged my signature.”
“We were married. Everything belonged to both of us.”
“My mother created that trust for me.”
“I kept this family stable.”
The same word he had used every time he wanted control to sound like protection.
Stable.
Theo laughed bitterly.
“You threw me onto the street to keep your secret stable.”
Warren pointed at him.
“You were always too curious for your own good.”
“He was your son,” I said.
“He was eighteen.”
“He was your son.”
My voice rose for the first time in years.
The baby began crying again.
Warren looked toward the basket.
“Is that Mara’s?”
I stepped between him and the child.
“You will not go near her.”
His expression changed.
For one second, I saw the man beneath the authority.
Not powerful.
Afraid.
“Who else has seen these documents?”
“An attorney,” Theo said.
Warren turned sharply.
Theo continued.
“Copies are already outside this house. You can’t make them disappear.”
Warren looked at me.
