Rise of the Formidable Ex-wife (Lucia and Alex) novel Chapter 236

Chapter 236

Chapter 236

The living room at Riverside Manor had gone quiet in the particular way it went quiet when something serious was about to happen.

Lucas sat on the edge of the couch with his elbows on his knees. Ria stood near the window with her arms crossed, already braced for something she did not yet understand. Lena sat curled into the armchair, her knees pulled up, watching her parents with the careful attention she gave to anything that felt like it might break.

Monica sat beside Lucia on the smaller couch, the bruising on her arm hidden under her sleeve, though everyone in the room had already seen it once before the long sleeve went on.

Alexander stood near the fireplace, his hands clasped behind his back.

“We need to tell you something,” he said. “Something happened. Several things, actually, and we should have told you sooner.”

Lucas straightened. “Is this about Margaret?”

“Her family,” Lucia said. “They came to my office. Yesterday. They wanted the money Margaret gave to Monica back.”

Ria’s arms tightened across her chest. “And you didn’t tell us.”

“We didn’t want to frighten you,” Lucia said. “You were all still healing. I thought I could handle it without bringing it into this house.”

“And today,” Alexander said, “Margaret’s brother went to Monica’s school.”

The room went very still.

Lena’s breath caught audibly. “What happened?”

Monica looked at her lap. She had not wanted to be the one to tell this part.

“He grabbed her,” Lucia said, when Monica did not speak. “Outside her school. He demanded the money. He left marks on her arm.”

Lena’s face had gone white. She pulled her knees in tighter against her chest. “Are we in danger?” Her voice came out small, the voice of someone who already knew six days in a basement and did not want to know what that fear felt like a second time. “Is he going to come for the rest of us too?”

“No,” Alexander said immediately, crossing the room to crouch in front of her chair so he could look directly at her face. “You are not in danger. I promise you that.”

“You promised that before,” Lena said. Her voice cracked slightly. “Before the kidnapping. Everyone said we were safe and then we weren’t.”

The room absorbed this. Nobody corrected her because nobody could honestly say she was wrong.

“I know,” Alexander said quietly. “I know what I’m asking you to trust, given everything. But this is different. The school has already increased security. I have arranged additional protection for all of you, starting today. There will be someone watching, someone close, every time you leave this house.” His voice did not waver. “I am not going to let what happened to Monica happen to any of you. Not again.”

Lucas’s jaw was tight. “What does Margaret’s family actually want?”

“Money,” Lucia said. “The sixty-four million Margaret gave Monica. They believe it belongs to them because they’re her blood family.”

“It’s not theirs,” Ria said. “Margaret gave it to Monica. Monica decided what to do with it. None of that is up for

debate.”

“They don’t see it that way,” Alexander said. “And clearly they’re willing to escalate.”

Monica had been quiet through all of it, looking at her hands, the sleeve covering the marks that still ached when she pressed against them. She look

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Chapter 236

“I could just give it to them,” she said.

The room turned to her.

“Not all of it. Whatever’s left, or whatever it would take to make them stop.” Her voice was steady but very quiet. “I don’t have it anymore anyway, it’s already gone to the charities, but if there’s a way to settle this, to make Josh stop coming after me, after any of you, I would rather do that than have this happen again. I would rather give up something than have someone grab Lena next, or Ria, or anyone.”

“No,” Lucia said.

The word came out sharp, immediate, with no room left for negotiation.

“Mom-”

“No,” Lucia said again, and this time her voice carried something raw underneath the firmness. “I will not let you give that family one single dollar. Not because of the money. Because of what it would mean.” She moved closer to Monica on the couch, taking her daughter’s hands in both of hers. “Margaret left that money to you because she understood, finally, after everything, that you were the one she hurt the most. That money exists because of what happened to you. If you hand even a portion of it to people who are threatening you, who grabbed you outside your own school, you are teaching yourself that fear gets to make your decisions. That if someone is cruel enough, frightening enough, you will hand over whatever they ask for just to make them stop.”

“I just want it to stop,” Monica said, her voice breaking slightly. “I don’t want Lena scared. I don’t want anyone else getting hurt because of money that came from what happened to me.”

“None of this is your fault,” Lucia said. “None of it. Margaret’s family being cruel and desperate is not something you created and it is not something you owe a payment to fix.” She held Monica’s face gently between her hands. “You already gave that money away once, to people who actually needed it, for reasons that were entirely yours. You do not owe Josh anything. You do not owe his father anything. You do not owe Claire anything. They do not get to frighten a thirteen-year-old girl in a schoolyard and then collect a reward for it.”

Monica’s eyes were bright with tears she was fighting not to let fall.

“What if they come back?” she asked. “What if this isn’t the end of it?”

“Then we deal with it,” Alexander said, standing now, moving to stand near Lucia and Monica. “Together. With security, with lawyers, with every resource we have. But we do not negotiate with people who grab children to get what they want. That is not strength, Monica. That is exactly what they are hoping you’ll mistake it for.”

Lucas had been quiet, his jaw still tight, but now he spoke.

“I want to know exactly what security looks like,” he said. “Specifically. Not just someone watching from a distance. I want to know who is picking us up from school, who is at the gates, what happens if any one of them shows up anywhere near any of us again.”

“We’ll go through all of it,” Alexander said. “Tonight. Everything. You all deserve to know exactly what’s being done and why.”

Ria had moved from the window to sit on the arm of the couch near Monica, her hand resting on her sister’s shoulder.

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