Chapter 7 - THE DINING PLAN
Elena spoke with her attorney, Marissa Cole.
Marissa specialized in estates and property.
Not crime.
Not espionage.
She gave boring advice.
Do not sign under pressure.
Keep copies.
Confirm every offer directly.
Separate property discussions from family dinners.
If you feel unsafe, leave.
Elena did one more thing.
She told the household chef she would serve herself from sealed individual portions for several days because of dietary testing.
No one objected.
Then she watched.
At dinner, Elliot repeatedly tried to hand her drinks himself.
Vivian once switched Elena’s place setting after saying:
“That glass is cleaner.”
Small.
Explainable.
Still worth noticing.
Elena began keeping untouched samples of food and drink only when advised to preserve suspicious items for later professional testing.
She did not test them herself.
She did not taste questionable items to “see what happened.”
She did not play detective with unknown substances.
She built a record.
Marissa also insisted Elena create a clean property file.
Original deed.
Conservation agreement.
Recent appraisal.
Northshore proposals.
Every version of the transfer documents.
Elena laughed.
“This feels like preparing for litigation.”
“It is preparing for clarity.”
“Same thing.”
“No.”
Marissa tapped the folder.
“Litigation is what happens after clarity fails.”
Elena remembered that.
The documents later mattered because they showed the proposal had changed several times.
Each revision gave Elliot slightly more managerial authority.
Not proof of criminal intent.
Proof that his preferred structure kept moving in one direction:
May you like
more control,
less need to return to Elena for decisions.
