Chapter 17 - THE ALLIANCEGenevieve moved without Caleb.
She contacted a columnist through a publicist.
No direct fingerprints.
No obvious payments.
Stories spread faster when everyone could claim they merely heard something.
Maris allegedly threatened Caleb during the divorce.
Maris allegedly refused family help out of spite.
Maris allegedly manipulated August through Eden.
None were fully provable.
That was the point.
Questions could damage more efficiently than accusations.
Julian called Genevieve.
“What are you doing?”
She smiled.
“You called.”
“Answer me.”
“I’m fixing what she broke.”
“Maris didn’t break anything.”
“She walked into that ballroom and your uncle changed.”
“He changed before.”
“You don’t see it.”
“I see you.”
Silence.
Julian continued:
“You humiliated her because you thought she was beneath you.”
“I apologized.”
“You apologized because August appeared.”
“That’s unfair.”
“It’s accurate.”
She hated hearing Maris’s language in him.
“Are you in love with her?”
Julian laughed.
“She’s my cousin.”
“That’s not what I—”
“You are losing control.”
Genevieve went quiet.
Julian continued:
“And you’re going to take your family with you.”
The next morning Rothwell Development received notice that Ellington Holdings was pausing negotiations pending internal risk review.
Harrison stormed into Genevieve’s office.
“What did you leak?”
“Nothing.”
He placed printed screenshots on her desk.
Anonymous gossip posts containing details only a handful of people knew.
“You are costing us this deal.”
“They were going to kill it anyway.”
“Then you walk away with dignity.”
“I’m not walking away.”
Harrison stared.
“You are not fighting for the company.”
Genevieve looked up.
“What?”
“You’re fighting Maris.”
He shook his head.
“And I don’t even think you know why.”
She did.
Because Maris stood in a stained dress and did not cry.
Because August defended her without being asked.
Because Julian’s future shifted when she entered a room.
Because people who had ignored Maris suddenly respected her.
Genevieve thought status was something maintained by humiliating people below you.
Maris had exposed the flaw.
Status disappeared the instant someone more powerful entered.
May you like
Genevieve hated being shown that.
She would rather destroy the mirror.
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