part 4
PART 4
The dinner was supposed to celebrate the baby.
That was Patricia’s idea.
A “family blessing supper,” she called it.
No photographers.
No press.
Just relatives, close friends, and enough floral arrangements to make humility impossible.
Lillian did not want it.
Her son was only three months old.
She was tired.
Still healing.
Still learning which cry meant hunger, which meant gas, and which meant he simply needed her heartbeat.
Andrew insisted.
“Mom planned everything.”
“That is the problem.”
He sighed.
“Lillian, please.”
“She feels pushed out.”
Lillian almost laughed.
Patricia had a bedroom, a driver, a guest code, and enough nerve to order nursery curtains.
But she felt pushed out.
The dinner began with champagne.
Lillian drank water.
Patricia made a toast.
“To the Mercer family legacy.”
Lillian noticed the missing word.
Not Whitestone.
Not Monroe.
Mercer.
Andrew lifted his glass.
So did everyone else.
Lillian kept her hand on the baby carrier and did not move.
Patricia saw.
Her smile sharpened.
“Lillian, dear, you should toast your son’s future.”
“I am.”
“With water?”
“With boundaries.”
The room went quiet.
Andrew leaned toward her.
“Not tonight.”
Lillian looked at him.
“When?”
Patricia laughed softly.
“See?”
“This is what I mean.”
“She takes everything as an attack.”
Andrew’s aunt murmured, “Postpartum can be difficult.”
Lillian turned to her.
“Being disrespected is difficult.”
Andrew stood.
His chair scraped against the marble patio.
“Enough.”
The baby startled and began to cry.
Lillian held him closer.
Patricia stood too.
“Maybe she should rest somewhere else tonight.”
Andrew looked at his mother.
Then at Lillian.
And chose.
“Pack a bag.”
The courtyard froze.
Lillian stared at him.
“What?”
“You heard me.”
He pointed toward the mansion doors.
“You and the baby can stay at the guest cottage until you calm down.”
Patricia whispered, “Andrew, perhaps not the baby.”
That was when Lillian understood the full plan.
She could be removed.
The baby could stay.
The house could be “stabilized.”
Andrew took one step closer.
“This is my house.”
“You get out.”
Lillian reached into her handbag and pressed one button on her phone.
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Clara’s emergency line connected.
Read the full story 👉 Andrew tried to send Lillian away while keeping the baby inside Whitestone, revealing the family’s plan in front of every guest.
