“I gave you a child, Evelyn. I gave you the family you begged for. Do you think this woman could have given her the life she has now? The private schools? The college fund? The safety?”

“You blackmailed her!” I yelled.

“I offered her an out,” Richard corrected, his tone chillingly reasonable. “Her father’s business was failing. She was twenty-two, pregnant, and terrified. I solved everyone’s problems.”

“You threatened to ruin my family,” Rose said, stepping closer to him.

“And I still can,” Richard said, his eyes locking onto hers.

The room went cold.

The threat was quiet, but it was absolute.

He looked at her, then at me, as if measuring his power over both of us.

“You think you’ve found some big secret,” Richard said, looking back at me. “But the world doesn’t care about twenty-year-old gossip, Evelyn. And neither will the courts.”

He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone.

The screen lit up his face, casting a blue glow over his sharp features.

“I’m going to call Claire now,” he said. “I’m going to tell her that her mother is having a medical episode, and that we need to postpone her visit.”