Page 60 of Forever We Embrace: The Later Years
“So you’re going to keep looking.”
“Until I find someone useful.”
Luca studies the folder for another moment before setting the tablet aside. “Did you find anything written by Gammas themselves?”
“Very little.” I keep my hand over his stomach while Luca sets the tablet aside. “Most of it is written about us, not by us. I knew I didn’t fit what people expected long before anyone gave me the right word for it. I spent years thinking the problem was me because no one explained there were other possibilities, and I’m not letting our child go through that.”
Luca’s expression softens as he brings my hand higher and kisses my knuckles. “We find people who understand, and we listen when they tell us who they are.”
I look at him. “Even if the answer changes.”
“Especially then.” Luca settles against my chest and leaves the research folder open between us. Most of the sections are unfinished, but the list of Gamma-informed clinics remains at the top.
I add Quentin’s name beneath it, then rest my hand over Luca’s belly again while he closes his eyes. “Keep the Zeta section,” he murmurs.
“I was going to.” His mouth curves against my shoulder, and I leave the page open.
22
Blake
The settlement demand arrives forty-eight hours after the Omega Welfare Board complaint. Maceo has the document open across two monitors when I enter the pack-house office. A third screen holds the billing records he pulled overnight, while the printed demand rests beside my chair with three sections already marked. The law firm named on the letter has no visible connection to Alastair’s foundation, but the terms make that separation difficult to believe.
I lower myself into the chair and settle my cane against my knee. “Walk me through it.”
Maceo turns the first monitor toward me. He’s changed clothes since last night, though the faint shadows beneath his eyes suggest he didn’t spend much time sleeping.
“They’re offering two acceptable outcomes,” he says. “You resign as chief executive of Keller Industries, or you approvethe revised merger structure Victor tried to force through the board.”
I scan the marked paragraphs even though I already read the demand once in bed. Repetition doesn’t make the language less calculated.
“And in return,” I say, “they arrange the complaint’s resolution through channels they refuse to name.”
“Through unspecified independent channels,” Maceo confirms. “They don’t name the channels, the decision-maker, or the legal mechanism they intend to use.”
The final section irritates me more than the rest. Alastair’s foundation would receive an advisory position in Ember House governance, supposedly to restore confidence in the sanctuary’s regulatory compliance. The language limits the position on paper while giving the foundation access to meetings, policy changes, and institutional planning.
It doesn’t explain how the same foundation offering corporate concessions can influence an independent Welfare Board complaint. It assumes we’ll be frightened enough not to ask.
Maceo reaches for the printed demand and taps the firm’s name with one finger. “The settlement firm has no shared partners, filings, or registered officers connecting it to Alastair’s foundation. The separation holds until the invoices.”
He turns the third screen toward me. The display shows several payment records linked through the same private billing processor.
“The settlement firm and two entities controlled by Alastair’s foundation use the same processor,” he says. “Different counsel, different registrations, and the same entity paying the invoices.”
“Enough to prove Alastair sent it?”
“Enough to prove the separation is cosmetic.” Maceo removes his glasses and rubs the bridge of his nose before putting them back on. “We still need the communications behind it.”
The office door opens before I can answer. Luca enters first with Luther behind him, followed by Grayson carrying a tray of coffee and food nobody requested but everyone will eat. Luca comes directly to me, curls his fingers around the silver head of my cane, and leans down to kiss my mouth.
His scent is steadier than it was yesterday.
“The judge approved the limited release,” Luca says as he straightens.
“Early this morning,” Luther adds. He takes the chair across from me rather than the one at the head of the table.
Grayson puts a plate beside Maceo’s hand and taps the edge of the keyboard until he looks away from the monitor. “Eat while it’s still warm.”
