Page 114 of Unravelling: Aria & Crispin
Simon faltered, then sneered. "This is neither the time nor the place for your stupid dramatics, you ungrateful girl. Don't make your incompetence known-"
Alice smiled coldly before interrupting her father yet again, "I've never liked the archaic rules you men use to keep women under control. Not particularly fond of the patriarchy, either. But sometimes..." her gaze swept the room before landing squarely on Simon, "it's useful."
Marcus ventured, "There's no scenario..."
"There is one," Alice said.
She raised her hand, and only then did the room notice the rings. An antique Edwardian diamond cluster ring with a large sapphire shining at its centre shone from her ring finger like a precious secret unveiled. And beneath it, a slender platinum band.
"The only exemption that allows me to inherit and vote before thirty-five by my grandfather's will," she said, her eyes sliding to Marcus, "is marriage. That stupid document should have been fed to the paper shredder as soon as one was written, but fortunately, it was not."
Marcus's mouth parted, but it was Alice who completed the thought. "And I got married one week ago."
Another gasp.
"The shares and the trust...they are all under my control."
She stood slowly, then she placed her hand on Aria's shoulder in a not-so-subtle gesture and looked around the boardroom. "As I said, twenty percent to retain."
While everyone was grappling with these new revelations, Crispin stood.
He looked around the room once, then said calmly, "As you can all see, not all is as it seemed."
He turned to the other end of the table, towards his father.
"I propose Simon Du Valares be removed from the board of directors effective immediately. He may retain a stakeholder's role."
Gasps.
"All in favour?" the chairman asked.
Hands raised.
The motion was passed.
Crispin turned and looked his mother in the eye for just for a moment, then at his father.
Neither had a word to say.
"Thank you all for coming," he said flatly. "The meeting is adjourned."
As the room began to shift into motion-papers gathering, murmurs rising-he passed Marcus.
Crispin paused before leaning in. "It's blood of the covenant, arsehole," he said coolly.
Marcus blinked, confused. "What?"
Crispin straightened, a smile on his face, but his eyes were a cold as ice. "The full saying isn't 'blood is thicker than water.' It's 'the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb.'"
Marcus blinked, confused.
Crispin's gaze swept the table before landing squarely on his father, then his mother. "To me, it means the bonds we choose-loyalty, honour, friendship-can be stronger than those we're born into. You," he added, voice low and deliberate, "are my blood, yet you didn't stand by me."
His eyes shifted briefly to Marcus. "You manipulated, abandoned, and belittled me. You terrified and tried to blackmail a pregnant woman, the mother ofmychild."
Then he turned to his mother. "You stood beside the man who tried to destroy me, my own father, who should have loved me."
He turned slightly, eyes falling on Dorian and then Aria. "But they-the ones with no blood ties to me-chose me. They fought for me. They stood with me when it mattered."
