Chapter 7 - LIAM REFUSED TO BE WORTH MORE THAN THE TRUTH

Liam requested independent counsel.

Not Sterling counsel.

His own.

Avery respected that.

For several days they barely discussed the case.

They fed Leo.

Changed diapers.

Slept in forty-minute intervals.

The absurd normality helped.

Then Liam made his decision.

“I’ll test.”

Avery looked up.

“You’re sure?”

“No.”

That was more honest.

“But I’m done letting other people make financial arguments about who my father was while I pretend uncertainty is dignity.”

There were complications.

Richard was dead.

Julian was dead.

Direct DNA samples were not readily available.

But Graham was alive.

So was Victoria.

So were several preserved medical materials associated with Julian, potentially obtainable only through appropriate legal process.

No instant answer existed.

Graham initially refused voluntary testing.

That surprised nobody.

His challenge suddenly looked less like a search for truth.

More like an attempt to force favorable legal presumptions.

Liam’s lawyers opposed that.

They argued that if Graham wanted ancestry to determine billions in trust administration, he could not simultaneously obstruct reliable clarification.

The dispute moved toward court-supervised discovery.

Meanwhile Avery confronted another problem.

Victoria still treated her like an intruder.

At a family lunch, Victoria seated Graham beside the senior trustees.

Avery and Leo were placed at the opposite end.

Subtle.

Intentional.

Sterling warfare rarely required shouting.

Avery picked up Leo’s carrier and moved.

She sat beside Liam.

Victoria stared at her.

“That seat is reserved.”

“For whom?”

“Family trustees.”

Avery smiled.

“Then one of them can move.”

Liam almost laughed.

Graham did not.

Later, Victoria cornered Avery.

“You are making this uglier.”

“No. I stopped making it comfortable.”

“You have no idea what Liam could lose.”

Avery looked at her.

“I know exactly what he was already losing.”

“What?”

“The right to decide what matters more than money.”

Victoria’s expression hardened.

Avery finally understood why Richard had left the burgundy case for the birth of Liam’s first child.

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Not because Leo automatically inherited a secret.

Because becoming a father might finally give Liam a reason to refuse the bargain his own father had made for him.