Chapter 10 - THE OTHER MOTHER
Marcus had not married Victoria immediately after Leo’s birth.
Leo’s biological mother was Anna Carter.
Marcus’s first wife.
She died from complications of an autoimmune illness when Leo was four months old.
Elena had been Anna’s maternity nanny.
Then stayed.
That history made Victoria’s resentment sharper.
She entered a house where:
Anna’s photos remained,
Elena knew every detail of Leo’s infancy,
Marcus still used some routines Anna created,
staff spoke of “how Mrs. Anna liked things.”
Victoria never admitted jealousy.
Until Rachel found a draft voice memo on Victoria’s cloud backup.
Not sent.
Recorded to herself.
“I am tired of living in a museum to a dead woman. Elena looks at me like I’m temporary. Everyone does.”
Then:
“If I become the public mother of this family, at least something will finally be mine.”
There.
The campaign was more than money.
It was identity.
Victoria wanted the world to recognize her as Leo’s mother before the household itself fully did.
That did not make her sympathetic enough to excuse anything.
But it explained why Elena’s presence felt intolerable.
Elena represented:
Anna’s memory,
Leo’s attachment,
May you like
Marcus’s trust,
and Victoria’s inability to manufacture intimacy on schedule.
