Chapter 5 - FAYE MERCER
Faye asked to meet Serena.
Not me.
Serena chose a conference room at her lawyer’s office with counsel present.
I stayed downstairs.
Not because I lacked opinions.
Because Faye’s pregnancy and Bastian’s adultery belonged first to the two women he had deceived.
Serena told me afterward what happened.
Faye cried before she sat down.
She was twenty-six, worked in luxury event marketing, and met Bastian at a Coletti foundation dinner. He told her his marriage was “functionally over” and that Serena stayed publicly married because Montesi family structures penalized divorce during pregnancy.
Lie.
He told her Serena knew about the relationship.
Lie.
He told her Alaric Montesi had accepted that “the next male child would be family successor.”
Lie.
He told her the dinner was meant to “formalize the new family reality.”
Apparently Bianca had coached her to stand beside Bastian and wait until Serena’s chair was available.
Faye asked, “Did you know I was coming?”
Serena said no.
That was when Faye understood how completely she had been used.
Did that make her innocent?
Not entirely.
She knowingly dated a married man based mostly on his claim that the marriage was over. She accepted expensive gifts. She allowed Bianca to speak about Serena cruelly. She agreed to attend a family celebration where Serena was visibly pregnant.
She owned that.
“I should have called you,” Faye said.
“Yes,” Serena answered.
No instant sisterhood.
No easy absolution.
Then Faye produced messages.
Bianca:
Once the boy is born, Bastian’s position becomes permanent.
Faye:
What about Serena’s baby?
Bianca:
She remains provided for. This is about stewardship, not cruelty.
Again.
Stewardship.
Faye:
Does Alaric know?
Bianca:
Alaric is sentimental about his daughter. He will understand when papers are complete.
There.
Not:
He agrees.
Papers complete first.
Then Bastian:
We need Faye’s paternity acknowledgment before Serena’s delivery.
Why?
Faye had already planned normal paternity establishment after birth.
Bastian wanted prenatal acknowledgment.
Their reproductive-law attorney advised that prenatal parentage declarations were limited and jurisdiction-dependent.
Still, they prepared an affidavit.
Purpose:
“Family continuity planning.”
Then another message:
Bastian:
If Serena signs the temporary representation, we have ninety days.
Bianca:
Enough.
Faye:
Enough for what?
No answer.
That message became critical.
Faye handed it over voluntarily.
Then she said something Serena did not expect.
“I don’t want my son involved in your family trust.”
Serena stared.
Faye continued, “I want Bastian to support his child. I don’t want Bianca turning him into a title.”
That was the first sensible thing anyone from Bastian’s side had said.
Then Faye asked:
“Is he really not entitled to anything?”
Serena answered carefully.
“I don’t know the full current structure yet.”
Good.
No promise.
Then Faye said Bianca had ordered baby furniture delivered to a Coletti-owned guesthouse.
A plaque on the nursery door had been commissioned:
MONTESI-COLETTI HEIR.
Not installed.
Photograph existed.
I stared at it later.
The arrogance was almost funny.
Then the bank.
Faye had been shown a “family wealth planning summary” stating that after birth of a male Coletti child, Bastian’s household expected “expanded stewardship participation” worth indirectly more than $100 million.
Not ownership.
Participation.
Banks do not lend $100 million because someone may attend meetings.
But Bastian’s company had used the appearance of future influence to attract partners.
One investor had committed $12 million to a real-estate fund partly because Bastian marketed himself as “future bridge between the Coletti and Montesi holdings.”
That created potential securities and misrepresentation issues.
Not yet proven.
Then Serena asked Faye:
“Do you love him?”
Faye cried.
“I don’t know what version.”
Serena said:
“Same.”
That sentence hurt me more than I expected.
Then Faye’s final disclosure.
Bianca told her there would be a family vote within ninety days of Serena’s delivery.
Vote on what?
Faye did not know.
Only phrase:
“East Harbor consolidation.”
I knew East Harbor.
A Montesi-controlled logistics district worth hundreds of millions.
No current sale that I knew.
I called my CFO.
He paused.
Then:
“Alaric, there is an exploratory merger proposal involving East Harbor Distribution and Coletti Freight.”
Coletti.
Bastian’s family company.
“How far?”
“Very early.”
“Who requested evaluation?”
A longer pause.
“Bastian.”
“When?”
“Four months ago.”
“Did he tell me?”
“He said he was waiting until terms matured.”
There.
The pregnancy scheme was not only about inheritance mythology.
May you like
There was a transaction.
And Bastian believed ninety days of Serena’s temporary representation could give him enough influence to change who controlled the discussion.
