“Of course. Through the family holding company. Mom handled the practical details.”
Isabelle touched her pearl necklace.
“Victor, this isn’t the time to settle domestic matters.”
Lena kissed her son’s forehead, and he stirred weakly against her.
“This is exactly the time.”
Adrien stared at her. He knew that voice. Calm. Clean. Dangerous.
For two years, they’d been embezzling money, calling it management. For two years, they’d been signing documents in her name, calling it protection. For two years, they’d let her count every penny to buy baby formula while they dressed up the theft with respectable family vocabulary. For two years, they’d thought that pregnancy, isolation, and shame would make her a docile woman.
They’d forgotten one thing. Before marrying Adrien, Léna worked in financial auditing, specializing in asset fraud. She could read lies when they carried invoice numbers.
Victor took out his phone.
“Call Maître Renaud, Maître Besson, and the expert Dutilleul. Now. And lock the doors.”
Claire jumped.
“Dad…”
He raised a hand without looking at her.
“No one leaves.”
Victor Delmas never shouted. He didn’t need to. His voice had that particular weight of men whom no one interrupts, because too much money and too many secrets surround them.
Adrien smiled again. Not as broadly, but he smiled.
“Victor, I understand that this is upsetting. But Léna hasn’t slept. She’s fragile.”
Léna looked down at the baby.
“You don’t even know her name.”
This sentence stopped Adrien in his tracks.
Something shifted in the room. Claire looked away. Camille stared at the baby with silent pain. Isabelle pursed her lips.
Adrien blinked.
“Excuse me?”
“You didn’t ask his name once.”
He opened his mouth, then closed it again. He looked at the child as if the information could be printed on his hat.
“His name is Noah Victor,” Lena said.
Victor’s face changed. This time, the rift was deeper. Lena had named her son after him while the people who were supposed to protect her let her go hungry.
For a few seconds, the billionaire was no longer a patriarch. He was simply an old man who had just realized that money can leave an account every month without ever leaving.
