Chapter 22 - MAGGIE BARRYMORE
People kept asking who I “really was.”
The mysterious mother.
The woman with hidden power.
The widow whose son owned twenty-four percent.
There was no dramatic answer.
I was Maggie Barrymore.
I had worked in commercial property analytics before Andrew died.
I returned part-time when William entered school.
My own father had money.
Comfortable money.
Not empire money.
He had taught me to read contracts.
That was the extent of my hidden power.
The smartphone Drew saw in my hand during the birthday contained nothing magical.
I had already photographed the Northcrest invitation the day before.
I had already booked Maya for the next morning because Andrew’s old warning had made me suspicious.
When I told Drew:
“Mommy will make them regret it soon,”
I meant I was done signing blind.
The legal truth became much less cinematic than the family imagined.
May you like
Good.
Power that depends on spectacle usually belongs to someone else.
