Chapter 3 - The Legal Ambush
Christopher didn't flinch. He stepped down to the marble floor, positioning his body directly between the guards and the study door where Emma was hiding.
"Dr. Miller, go inside and examine Emma," Christopher said, keeping his eyes glued to the guards.
Dr. Miller hesitated, his gaze darting nervously between Christopher and Estelle at the top of the stairs. "Madam Pierce?"
"Let the doctor do his job," Estelle waved her hand dismissively. "We aren't monsters, Christopher. We want the child healthy. Before Child Protective Services arrives to collect her."
Christopher's world stopped. "What did you just say?"
Estelle descended the remaining steps, her heels clicking rhythmically against the stone. "You are an unmarried man with an erratic lifestyle, currently under investigation for corporate embezzlement—thanks to the forensic audit I authorized twenty minutes ago. You have no legal custody papers naming you as Emma's guardian. Rachel died intestate. The state will take the child until a suitable foster arrangement can be made."
"You forged an audit against your own son to take Emma?" Christopher stepped forward, his fists clenching so hard his knuckles popped.
"I do what is necessary to protect this empire from your sentimental weaknesses," Estelle said coldly. "Stand down, Christopher. Sign the transfer of your shares over to the family trust, agree to send the girl to a boarding school in Switzerland under an assumed name, and I will drop the embezzlement charges."
Dr. Miller slipped quietly into the study, pulling the door shut behind him.
Christopher stared at his mother. The woman who had raised him in boarding schools, who had evaluated his report cards like quarterly earnings reports, and who had viewed Rachel’s untimely death in a hit-and-run three years ago as nothing more than 'a convenient clean-up.'
A sudden, horrifying thought struck him.
Rachel's hit-and-run had never been solved. The driver had vanished into thin air. The surveillance footage near her apartment had mysteriously corrupted.
"Rachel didn't just die in a random car crash, did she?" Christopher asked, his voice a dangerous whisper.
Estelle’s eyes flickered for a fraction of a second—a micro-expression of contempt. "Rachel was warned to take her settlement and disappear. She chose to be stubborn. Just like you."
The admission hung in the air like poison gas.
Suddenly, the lock on the study door clicked open.
Yvette slipped out, but Emma wasn't behind her. Yvette’s face was deathly pale.
"Mr. Christopher," Yvette whispered, her voice shaking violently. "Emma isn't just in shock. Dr. Miller found needle marks on her arm. She didn't fall into that pool because she slipped."
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Estelle’s face remained stone-cold, but her fingers tightened around her crystal glass until the knuckles turned white.
"They didn't try to drown her, sir," Yvette said, tears spilling over her wrinkled cheeks. "They drugged her before throwing her in."
