Page 136 of Lennox Lane

“I do.” Her voice stayed calm. “Because I know what it looks like when a man finally loves a woman more than his own fear. I left that type of man for your father, so my suffering is earned.”

Lennox didn’t have a response for that.

Mielle set his phone on the coffee table and smoothed one hand over her sweater. “Relax.”

“Relax? My father is trying to destroy my woman’s nonprofit with false financial documents!” He raised his voice.

“I heard you.”

“And your advice is to relax?” He asked incredulously.

Mielle’s eyes held something Lennox had never seen—absolution. “Wait for the show to begin.”

Before Lennox could ask what the hell that meant, the front door slammed hard enough to echo; Jason Jackson’s voice tore through the foyer. “Mielle!”

Lennox turned slowly as his father stormed into the sitting room, waving a stack of papers in one hand. He was visibly disheveled. Suit jacket open, tie crooked, and eyes bright with fury.

“What the fuck is going on?” Jason demanded.

Mielle crossed one leg over the other and looked at him like a woman observing weather from behind glass. “A divorce, my love.”

Shit. Lennox had expected to hear those words fall from his mother’s mouth. Lennox stared at her, then at his father, who was staring at her too, papers still raised in one hand. Then Jason noticed Lennox.

His face twisted. “You.”

Lennox smiled faintly. “Good morning.”

Jason pointed the papers at him. “You put her up to this.”

“As much as I’d love to take credit for Ma waking up and choosing to drop some dead weight finally, I had nothing to do with it.”

Mielle lifted a brow. “I can’t wait to be 225 pounds lighter,” she giggled.

Jason’s face reddened. “Mielle, you’ve lost your mind.”

“No,” she said. “I found it under thirty years of your affairs and betrayal. Years of humiliations and bastard babies who aren’t half as brilliant as your firstborn.”

Jason stepped forward. “Watch your mouth.”

Lennox moved before his mother could blink, placing himself between them, causing his father to stop in his tracks.

Mielle looked around Lennox’s shoulder. “I’m requesting fifty percent of all marital assets. A full accounting of hidden holdings. I also want retroactive support for the years you siphoned money into your other households and spousal support.”

Jason laughed, ugly and sharp. “You’ll get nothing.”

Mielle smiled. It was the first time Lennox had ever seen his mother look truly free.

“I have proof of the affairs,” she said. “The accounts and properties. The children’s birth certificates with your name on them. The nondisclosure agreements. The offshore movement, all thanks to the wives of The Council.”

“The Council wives?” his father repeated.

Mielle didn’t take her eyes off Jason. “Women talk when men underestimate them.”

A slow grin spread across Lennox’s face.

Jason saw it and snapped, “Wipe that look off your face.”

“No.”