Chapter 6 - SERENA'S COUNTERATTACK
Her lawyer was Abigail Stone.
Smart.
Precise.
Unsentimental.
Malcolm respected her immediately.
That made the situation more dangerous.
Abigail sat across from Malcolm, Eleanor, and Vale general counsel David Chen.
She began:
“My client acknowledges inappropriate treatment of household staff.”
Malcolm almost laughed at the phrasing.
Abigail continued.
“But she categorically denies any conspiracy to exploit Mr. Vale.”
David slid forward the addendum.
“Then why was it timed before Northstar?”
“Estate planning.”
“Why is Lucas named?”
“Family continuity.”
“Why was his financial interest undisclosed?”
“Serena did not know its extent.”
Malcolm looked at her.
“Did you know he had any position?”
Serena hesitated.
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you tell me?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I knew you’d think I was using you.”
Malcolm’s voice went cold.
“Were you?”
Her eyes filled.
“Not at first.”
The room changed.
Abigail looked at her client.
Serena continued despite counsel’s obvious desire for silence.
“I loved you.”
“Past tense?”
“I don’t know what anything is now.”
Malcolm said nothing.
She leaned forward.
“Lucas told me Northstar would make him whole.”
“Whole from what?”
“His losses.”
“What losses?”
Serena looked down.
“Crypto. Real estate. A failed fund.”
Malcolm closed his eyes.
Of course.
Lucas needed rescue.
Serena had access to a billionaire.
Family logic again.
She continued.
“I thought if I had more standing after we married, I could convince you to keep the acquisition on track.”
“By hiding his conflict?”
“Yes.”
“And the emergency authority?”
Her face tightened.
“Lucas said your board would never take me seriously otherwise.”
Malcolm stared.
“So you were willing to let them believe your judgment was mine.”
“No.”
“That is exactly what delegated authority does.”
Abigail interrupted.
“Mr. Vale, we should be careful not to convert ugly motives into criminal conclusions.”
She was right.
Malcolm hated that too.
Then Serena launched her own attack.
She claimed Malcolm’s disguise amounted to deliberate entrapment and emotional manipulation.
She accused Eleanor of poisoning him against the marriage.
She argued staff grievances had been exaggerated because employees feared modernization.
And finally:
“You are sixty-eight years old, Malcolm. Everyone around you treats you like a king. Maybe nobody tells you when you become paranoid.”
The room went silent.
There it was.
The word.
Paranoid.
A seed for later.
Malcolm understood instantly.
If the marriage dispute became a competency dispute, Serena’s proposed emergency authority took on a different shape.
May you like
Not proof of a plan.
But enough to make him very careful.
