Chapter 236:

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She didn’t want a new house. She didn’t want a teddy bear. She wanted her mother.

Before I could find an answer, the heavy study door swung open, and my grandmother, Beatrice Carlisle, walked in, leaning heavily on her gold-headed cane. Her expression was stern and severe.

“Blake,” she demanded, her voice echoing through the quiet room. “Where is Corinne? Why hasn’t she come to family dinner?”

I stood, still holding Lily, and kept my tone carefully controlled. “Grandmother, Corinne had an urgent executive matter at Nexus tonight. She couldn’t make it.”

Beatrice’s sharp, perceptive eyes swept over my face, entirely unconvinced. “An urgent matter at Nexus? I spoke with Casey Ferguson myself an hour ago. He confirmed that Corinne finished her work at six o’clock and was at her private residence!”

My chest tightened sharply.

Beatrice struck the hardwood floor with her cane, her voice trembling with anger. “What game are you playing, Blake? You spend your days making headlines with that broadcast girl while driving your wife further away every single week! Is this how a Carlisle manages his family?”

Lily flinched at the harsh tone and buried her face in my neck.

I stood in silence, unable to offer a single rebuttal, as the full weight of my corporate choices and personal miscalculations bore down on me. For months, I had assumed my financial dominance could smooth over any social friction, yet Corinne had built an elite world of academic and executive authority entirely beyond my reach. I had to face the truth: my strategic control over this family was unraveling.

𝘍o𝗹𝗅𝗈𝘸 𝘂𝗌 o𝗇 𝘨𝖺𝗅ոo𝗏еl𝗌.𝖼o𝗆

Corinne POV

On Sunday evening, I was at my private Manhattan apartment, enjoying the quiet sanctuary of my study. I had taken a long, hot shower, changed into comfortable loungewear, and settled in to review the technical documentation for Monday’s Nexus launch.

Around nine o’clock, the entry chime sounded. I walked over to the security monitor and went slightly still.

Standing outside my door in the private corridor was Beatrice Carlisle, accompanied by her personal driver.

I hesitated for a moment, then calmly opened the door and stood in the doorway. “Beatrice. Good evening.”

Beatrice looked at me, her expression severe and unyielding. “Corinne. You need to come back to the estate with me tonight. Lily has been crying for you for two hours.”

I leaned lightly against the doorframe, keeping my posture relaxed and my tone even. “Beatrice, let’s be absolutely clear. Blake and I have been legally divorced for months. My legal residence is here, and I no longer fill any domestic role at the Carlisle estate.”

Beatrice’s face hardened, and her voice took on the full authority of the Carlisle matriarch. “Divorced or not, we haven’t made a public announcement! In the eyes of high society and this family, you are still tied to the Carlisle name! You can’t simply abandon Lily when she needs her mother!”

She paused, her tone softening into a calculated appeal. “Think of your daughter, Corinne. She can’t understand corporate separations. Come back tonight, for Lily’s sake.”

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