Chapter 3 - DEFINING BELONGING
Vanessa’s jaw tightened. She took a step toward Leo, her diamond earrings catching the sunlight, her eyes flashing with defensive indignation. She gestured dismissively toward Grace with a manicured hand.
"Leo, look at her!" Vanessa demanded, her voice rising. "She’s the nanny! She’s domestic help! She was overstepping her boundaries with your son, teaching him to call her things she has no right to be called! I was simply enforcing decorum in your house!"
Noah tightened his grip on his father’s trousers, peeking out from behind Leo’s leg. His small face flushed red as he shouted back at Vanessa with all the authority his three-year-old lungs could muster.
"She’s Mama Grace!" Noah declared fiercely.
Vanessa let out a harsh, sarcastic laugh, shaking her blonde head. "Do you hear him, Leo? It’s absurd! You're letting a servant manipulate your heir!"
Grace dropped back down to her knees beside Noah, gently wrapping her arms around the little boy’s waist to pull him against her chest. She smoothed his white shirt, her fingers brushing through his dark hair as she tried to soothe his shaking shoulders.
"Noah, sweetie, it's okay," Grace murmured gently into his ear, keeping her eyes down. "Hush now. Everything is fine."
Leo stood tall above them. He looked down at his son, seeing the way Noah leaned his small head against Grace’s neck, the way the boy’s fingers clutched the fabric of her pink-and-white apron with absolute, unquestioning trust.
Leo lifted his head, locking his dark eyes back onto Vanessa.
"No," Leo said quietly.
Vanessa blinked, thrown off by his tone. "What?"
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Leo took two steps forward, crossing the space between them until he was standing less than three feet from her. His massive frame shadowed her red dress completely.
"It isn't fine," Leo said, his voice dropping an octave into a register that made the crystal chandelier droplets above them hum softly. "And you don't decide what happens in my house."
