Chapter 4 - The Iron Dowager
The Greenwich estate was a sprawling, stone manor surrounded by dense oak forests and high iron fencing. The moment the security gates swung open and the Maybach pulled up the winding gravel driveway, Elena leaned toward the window, her eyes wide with surprise.
It wasn't a cold glass tower like my old penthouse. It was a historic, warm stone home with ivy creeping up the walls, wide porches, and expansive lawns that stretched out toward a private lake.
"You live here?" she asked, turning to me.
"I bought it after you left," I admitted, stepping out of the car and opening her door. "I realized... I hated the penthouse. It reminded me of empty rooms."
My staff was already waiting at the front doors. Mrs. Gable, the housekeeper I had retained from the previous owners, practically beamed when she saw the two little boys being lifted out of the car by my security guards.
"Welcome home, sir," Mrs. Gable said, her eyes lingering warmly on Elena and the twins. "The master suite and the adjoining guest rooms have been prepared as you requested."
"Thank you, Mrs. Gable," I said. "Please have the chef prepare a child-friendly dinner. Something simple."
"Right away, Mr. Marrow."
We carried the boys inside. The warm scent of cedar wood, fresh flowers, and home cooking filled the grand foyer. For the first time in three years, the massive house didn't feel like an empty mausoleum. It felt alive.
While Mrs. Gable helped Elena settle the boys into the nursery wing—which I had instructed my staff to furnish months ago in secret hopes that one day I would have a family—my phone began to vibrate violently in my pocket.
I walked into my private study, pulled out the phone, and looked at the caller ID.
Victoria Marrow.
I pressed the call button and brought the phone to my ear. I didn't say hello.
"You crossed a line, Mother," I said, my voice dead and cold.
"Tobias," my mother's crisp, aristocratic voice echoed through the speaker. She sounded as composed as ever, sitting in her penthouse on the Upper East Side. "I see Elena reached out to you. I explicitly told her to handle this through the family attorneys."
"You offered the mother of my children four million dollars to surrender her parental rights," I said, stepping toward the broad oak desk. "You threatened her with legal warfare."
"I did what was necessary to protect this family!" Victoria snapped, her icy composure fracturing slightly. "That girl walked out on you! She hid your heirs in some pathetic rural town! She is a liability to Marrow Holdings, Tobias! If the press finds out that the CEO of a fortune-fifty company has twin boys living in near-poverty with a small-town librarian, our stock value will drop five percent overnight!"
"If you ever go near Elena or my sons again," I said, every word measured and lethal, "I will execute the buyout clause in the corporate charter. I will strip you of your board seat, freeze your trust distributions, and ban you from every property owned by Marrow Holdings."
A stunned silence fell over the line. For thirty years, Victoria Marrow had pulled the strings of our family. She had controlled my father, controlled my career, and tried to control my marriage. She had never heard me speak to her like this.
"You would choose that girl over your own mother?" she whispered, her voice trembling with outrage.
May you like
"I am choosing my sons," I replied coldly. "And if you ever call Elena again, you won't just lose your board seat, Victoria. You'll lose your son, too."
I ended the call and threw the phone onto the desk.
