If he thinks Lily needs professional help, he’ll agree to anything I suggest.”

In another recording, the two argued over timing.

“Once he signs off on the property management agreement, we have leverage.”

“What if his attorney reviews it first?”

“Then we make sure he signs the authorization before he runs it past her.”

Marcus listened to those recordings in Victoria’s office as the remaining warmth of the previous year disappeared.

His marriage had not simply failed.

It may never have existed in the way he had believed.

It had been a calculated operation against both him and his daughter.

Two people were discussing Marcus and Lily not as family, but as problems in a plan they were trying to complete.

Chapter 17 — Right Where I Want Him

The most damaging file, however, had been recorded seven months earlier, when Marcus and Sarah had been married for less than ninety days.

Sarah was sitting in the home office on a video call with Julian.

“I can’t rush this,” she was saying into her headset.

“He still treats everything Hannah left behind like a sanctuary.”

Julian’s voice came through the speaker.

“That’s why you take it slow.

If you push too hard on the kid early on, you’ll alienate Marcus.”

Sarah laughed quietly.

“I’m not going to alienate him,” she said.

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