Chapter 5
Cassian formally separated from Lavinia three days after finding Estelle on the floor.
Rebecca filed the necessary paperwork.
Lavinia moved into a downtown condominium owned in her own name.
She did not go quietly.
Her attorney sent a letter alleging Cassian had threatened her life with the leash comment.
Rebecca read it aloud.
Cassian closed his eyes.
“Don’t say it.”
“You threatened your wife in a room full of witnesses.”
“I wasn’t going to kill her.”
“I know.”
“She knows.”
“A judge doesn’t live inside your head.”
Cassian accepted that.
He issued a written statement through counsel clarifying that he intended legal and permanent consequences, not physical harm.
He also agreed to no direct contact while divorce proceedings began.
Some men in the family called that humiliation.
Cassian called it avoiding stupidity.
The financial review produced another problem.
Lavinia had used the Morretti Foundation heavily over the previous eighteen months.
Designer events.
Private travel framed as donor meetings.
Consultants who seemed to produce almost nothing.
Cassian had already ordered the foundation placed under independent controls as part of his restructuring.
Lavinia stood to lose authority over nearly $6 million in annual discretionary spending.
Again, motive.
Still not proof she helped plan Estelle’s incapacity.
Then Marcus found the mobile notary visits.
A notary had entered the estate Monday and Tuesday before Cassian’s return.
Each visit lasted fewer than fifteen minutes.
Rebecca contacted her.
The notary remembered Estelle.
“She refused to sign.”
“What document?”
“I didn’t read the body. I verify identity and willingness.”
“What did the title say?”
The woman checked her log.
Acknowledgment of Existing Authority and Consent to Financial Assistance.
Rebecca frowned.
Not a new power of attorney.
Something else.
“Who hired you?”
“Mr. Brennan Morretti’s office.”
“Why didn’t the signing happen?”
“Mrs. Morretti told me she didn’t understand why she needed it.”
“What happened then?”
“Mr. Morretti said they’d reschedule.”
The notary had done the correct thing.
She left.
Cassian asked Estelle about it.
His mother remembered.
“Brennan said it was nothing important.”
“Why didn’t you sign?”
“I didn’t like how Lavinia kept smiling.”
Cassian almost laughed.
“Excellent legal standard.”
“It worked.”
It had.
The attempted signing became the third clue.
There were now two apparent routes.
If Estelle signed voluntarily, Brennan gained some acknowledged authority.
May you like
If she refused and later appeared incompetent, the existing springing power could potentially activate anyway.
They had prepared both paths.
