Chapter 13 - DIANE'S CONFESSION
The family met with mediators.
No children.
Diane finally admitted:
“I thought William was wrong.”
Hannah stared.
“You thought that gave you the right to ignore him?”
“I thought I was protecting what he built.”
Ethan said:
“From your granddaughter?”
Diane flinched.
“From becoming a passive trust fund.”
“She’s eighteen months old.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
Diane cried then.
Not beautifully.
Angrily.
“I watched your father build that company while people laughed at him. I watched men take him seriously only after he became rich. He wanted family leadership.”
Ethan answered:
“He wanted the first grandchild protected.”
Diane shook her head.
“He assumed a boy.”
Rachel slid the counsel note across the table.
Diane read:
If the first is a girl, it’s hers.
Her face changed.
She had seen versions of the drafting history.
But not that exact line.
Or said she had not.
No one could prove otherwise.
Then Hannah asked:
“Why did you refuse Sophie food?”
Diane whispered:
“That was different.”
Hannah said:
“No.”
Same root.
May you like
Not same act.
Same belief that Diane knew what everyone should be.
