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There's the faintest ghost of a smile on Genevieve's lips.

She sets down her untouched glass of water and speaks before Christian can answer.

"I was present with Conrad when he and his attorney drafted it," she says, cool and composed. "It was reviewed by counsel, properly executed, and witnessed with every formality required to ensure exactly this outcome."

No one in the room breathes.

Genevieve's gaze moves across the board.

"The clause was designed to protect future generations from the possible stupidity of their parents," she says. "As you are all well aware, legacy was everything to my brother. He did not build an empire, father eight children, and establish a dynasty simply to leave his future descendants vulnerable to trustees with short memories and too much discretion."

Zayne makes a suspicious choking sound beside Wes that is almost certainly laughter.

Christian taps the relevant paragraph in the addendum.

"The language is explicit. If a child is conceived during a legally binding marriage, the inheritance rights of that child's parent remain intact for preservation and succession. Which means the prior action against Everett is void as applied."

Beside me, Everett goes very still.

Not his usual kind.

Not the boardroom version, the one he controls.

Something tighter. I can feel it in his arm where it presses against mine under the table. Everything in him is going rigid. His body trying to tip into something his face won't show.

I hate that I recognize it now. A panic attack building.

Here. In front of all of them. With every sibling in this room behind him, and some part of him is still bracing for impact.

Without looking at him, I slide my hand lower and curl my fingers around his forearm beneath the table, rubbing my thumb in slow circles over the top of his hand.

His breath catches. Then, a second later, he exhales—slow, controlled. The tension in his arm eases under my hand by a fraction.

Not completely gone but fading. Enough that when Preston opens her mouth, Everett is steady again.

"This addendum was not previously disclosed," she says.

Genevieve's mouth curves by half an inch. "It was not previously necessary."

One of the trustees shifts in his seat. "You're asking the board to reverse a remedy already accepted in good faith."

Christian actually tsks.

"In good faith?" he repeats. "You acted on purchased internal information from a compromised source with direct financial motive and personal grievance. If you'd like to keep using the phrase good faith, I would be delighted to hear you defend it under oath in a courtroom."

Christian's threat lands. Even Zayne sits up a little straighter.

Everett rises before anyone can answer, and something in the room shifts. Of course it does. I've never seen him stand in a room without people paying attention.

"My father built this trust to protect his family," he says, looking directly at the board. "Not to arm trustees against it. You accepted a betrayal from a paid employee as sufficient basis to dismantle a legally binding marriage and strip succession rights from my line before it had even begun." His gaze shifts once, briefly, toward me, then back to Preston. "That ends today. My wife and my child will be protected from trust scrutiny going forward."

"Until of course, your child turns thirty-five," Preston says.

Everett glances over at me and then down at my belly where I haven't started showing yet.

"We'll see about that." His voice drops low enough to qualify as a threat.

One of the trustees clears his throat. "We'll need time to review this addendum."