CHAPTER 6: A Dismissal Written in Ink

Vivienne recovered by reaching for paper.
She always did. Contracts, invitations, seating charts, household orders. Ink made her cruelty look administrative.
She lifted a cream envelope from the console table and handed it to Sebastian as if giving him proof instead of a trap.
'I signed the dismissal before you arrived,' she said. 'Elena has been crossing boundaries for months. She confuses service with family, and Lily needs discipline before the wedding.'
Sebastian opened the envelope.
Inside was a termination notice, a nondisclosure agreement, and a statement accusing Elena of emotional manipulation of a minor child.
Elena's face drained of color.
She had no lawyer, no family name, no rich witness prepared to say she had only held a crying little girl.
Sebastian read to the last line without expression.
Then he folded the papers once and placed them back on the console.
'Who prepared this?' he asked.
Vivienne hesitated.
It was the first honest thing she had done all night.
'My attorney,' she said.
Sebastian nodded toward his own chief of security.
'Call mine.'