“My son chose a birthday party over his father’s funeral. That night, I opened the letter my dying husband left behind—and discovered a clause that gave me the power to decide whether our only child would inherit everything… or nothing at all.

“I had every right as executor and majority voting trustee during probate. You contacted Maris without authorization and jeopardized a major contract.”

“I was protecting my future.”

“You were damaging the company to improve your legal posture.”

Thomas began pacing. It was so much like Richard that Eleanor almost looked away.

“This is absurd,” he said. “I’m fighting for what should have been mine.”

“No,” Eleanor replied. “You are fighting for what you believe you are owed.”

He stopped.

“Victoria says you’ve always resented me,” he said. “That you were jealous because Dad wanted me to take over. She says you wanted power all along.”

Eleanor almost laughed, but there was no humor in it.

“Your father and I spent twenty years trying to interest you in the actual work behind the title. You wanted the office. You wanted the respect. You wanted the private jet and boardroom introductions. You did not want the responsibility.”

“That’s not true.”

“It is true. You showed up for ceremonies and disappeared for preparation. You enjoyed being Richard Mitchell’s son more than you ever tried to become Richard Mitchell’s successor.”

Thomas slammed his palm onto the desk.

“Stop talking like I was a disappointment. Dad was proud of me.”

The sentence hung between them.

Eleanor’s anger drained, leaving only sorrow.

“He loved you desperately,” she said. “That is not the same as pride.”

Thomas’s expression shifted, pain breaking through the rage for one unguarded second.

Then his phone buzzed.

He glanced at it.

“Victoria needs me at Mills’s office.”

“Of course she does.”

His eyes narrowed. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means when was the last time she asked how you were feeling about losing your father?”

Thomas looked away.

“Do not do that,” he said.

“When was the last time, Thomas?”

“You don’t know anything about my marriage.”

“I know you visited us every Sunday before Victoria decided family breakfasts were boring. I know you stopped taking Richard’s calls when she said he was trying to control you. I know she complained about hospital visits because they interfered with travel plans. I know Charlotte heard her say she was ‘putting in time until the payoff.’”

Thomas went still.

“That’s a lie.”

“When has Charlotte lied to you?” Eleanor asked. “Even after you missed her birthdays, her graduation, her first apartment move, she never lied about you. She loved you too much to invent reasons to hate you.”