Chapter 3 - The Queen’s Gambit
While Julian stood outside the Astoria apartment door trying to negotiate his way into his children's lives, a very different kind of conversation was taking place in a limestone mansion on the Upper East Side.
Margaret Carter sat in her high-backed velvet armchair, sipping green tea from a delicate bone-china cup. At sixty-five, she remained the undisputed matriarch of the Carter family, a woman whose mere disapproval had ruined corporate careers and ended high-society marriages without raising her voice.
Standing across from her was her personal secretary and legal advisor, Arthur Vance.
"Are you certain of this, Arthur?" Margaret asked, her voice smooth, icy, and completely devoid of warmth.
"Yes, Mrs. Carter," Arthur replied, adjusting his wire-rimmed glasses. "Our private surveillance firm picked up chatter from Julian's corporate assistants. He spent two hours this afternoon lingering around a residential walk-up in Astoria. Furthermore, confidential medical records from 2019 indicate that the Bennett girl—Claire—did not terminate her pregnancy as Julian had arranged. She carried twin boys to term."
Margaret set her teacup down onto its saucer with a sharp clink.
Twins.
Two boys bearing the Carter bloodline, growing up in a squalid apartment in Queens, carrying the surname of a penniless archivist who had nearly derailed Julian’s ascension to the CEO seat five years ago.
"My son," Margaret said slowly, her eyes narrowing into cold slits, "spent millions of dollars and countless hours cleaning up that girl's mess so he could take over Carter Global without a breath of scandal. And now you're telling me those bastards are running around Queens?"
"They are five years old, ma'am," Arthur noted carefully. "If the public—or worse, the board of directors—discovers that Julian fathered children out of wedlock with a low-born commoner whom he tried to pay off, the upcoming merger with Sterling Industries could collapse. The shareholders value stability above all else."
Margaret stood up, smoothing the front of her tailored black Chanel dress. She walked over to the tall, arched window overlooking Central Park, her reflection framed against the glittering skyline of the city she ruled with an iron fist.
"Julian is my only flesh and blood," Margaret murmured, a dangerous smile touching the corners of her thin lips. "If those boys possess the Carter blood, they belong here—under my roof, molded by my standards, and trained to run this empire. But a commoner like Claire Bennett? She has no place in our world."
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"What would you have me do, Mrs. Carter?" Arthur asked quietly.
"Find her," Margaret commanded without turning around. "Find out every detail of her life over the last five years. Her debts, her landlords, her routines. If she thinks she can use those children to blackmail my son or drag our name through the mud, she is sorely mistaken. We are going to offer her a new arrangement. One she won't be able to refuse."
