CHAPTER 7: Mason Counts the Wrong Inheritance

Mason tried charm next.
He stepped forward with his hands open, softening his face as if cameras had appeared.
“Lena, come on. This is family. Mom was scared. Your father has been difficult. We all wanted what was best for him.”
Lena studied him.
He had worn black to look serious. It only made him look rehearsed.
“You stood there while he crawled,” she said.
Mason’s eyes flicked toward the balcony, then the doors, then the attorneys.
“I didn’t know what was happening.”
“You knew enough to stay quiet.”
Celeste cut in. “Do not speak to my son like that.”
Charles lifted his head.
His voice was weak, but it reached every corner of the foyer.
“He is not my heir.”
Mason went still.
Celeste’s face lost color beneath the warm chandelier light.
Lena turned another page in the folder.
“He is also not listed on any foundation succession document,” she said. “Not as trustee, not as beneficiary, not as staff.”
Mason looked suddenly younger.
Power had been rented to him by his mother, and the lease had just expired.