“Development missions”.
“Land strategy services”.
All invoiced by LMP Conseil.
The company belonged to Laurent Perrin, Maud’s brother.
One of the administrators turned to Thomas.
— I had asked who had approved these contracts.
Thomas clenched his jaw.
— The services exist.
Sarah placed an aerial photograph on the table.
It represented an empty plot of land in the Vaucluse.
— Here is one of the studies billed at €510,000. The report submitted to the group contains 11 pages. 7 are taken almost verbatim from a public document of the inter-municipal council.
Maud took a step towards Thomas.
— You told me everything was in order.
Geneviève turned away abruptly.
– Shut up.
This word finally made the administrators understand that the meeting was no longer a marital crisis.
Juliette was not trying to get revenge because her husband had a mistress.
She had documented a financial risk.
And Geneviève, by wanting to expel her from the family a few hours after her delivery, had just triggered the very clauses that allowed Juliette to act.
Sarah opened the last shirt.
— The protocol signed yesterday at the clinic still remains.
Geneviève gave a little laugh.
— Finally. Something clear. She accepted €18,000,000.
— Non.
— I have his signature.
— You have his signature on a preparatory separation protocol.
Sarah paused.
— In France, you don’t decide, in a hospital room, between two post-operative contractions and a bottle feeding, to remove newborns from their mothers. The children’s residence and the exercise of parental authority are not transferred like shares of a company.
Thomas ran a hand over his face.
Geneviève, for her part, remained upright.
— She accepted the principle of residing with Thomas.
She signed a statement indicating that this possibility would be discussed within the appropriate legal framework. Read it again.
Geneviève almost snatched the document away.
She read.
Then he returned.
Juliette had changed 9 words before signing.
A sentence that initially stated that the children “will usually reside with their father” now indicated that this residence “may be requested by the father and considered in the best interests of the children”.
Geneviève slowly raised her head.
— She changed the text.
– Yes.
— Without telling us.
Sarah gave a cold look.
— You handed her a legal document right after she had a cesarean section. There were three people present, including her husband and his mistress. You offered her no independent advice. I’m not sure you wanted to make the circumstances of that signing the main issue before a judge.
The silence became heavy.
Thomas murmurs:
— And what about the €18,000,000?
This time, Sarah seemed almost to feel pity.
— This is probably the most embarrassing part.
She slid a statement through the slide.
The family account intended to finance the compensation had been pledged for 2 years in favor of the Morel holding company, as a guarantee of refinancing.
Thomas looked at his mother.
— Did you know?
Geneviève did not reply.
– Mom ?
— It was temporary.
Sarah closed the file.
— You offered Juliette €18,000,000 from assets on which her own holding company holds a priority security interest.
An administrator coughed to mask a nervous laugh.
Geneviève glared at him.
At 9:06 a.m., the board voted to temporarily suspend Thomas from his duties as managing director, pending an independent audit of contracts related to LMP Conseil.
At 9:14 a.m., the payment of bonuses was frozen.
At 9:27 a.m., Maud left the building alone.
At 9:41 a.m., Geneviève sent a message to Juliette.
“You can take over the company if you like. You won’t be taking over my grandsons.”
Juliette read the message in her father’s house, 40 minutes from Paris.
She had settled into the room where she had slept as a teenager.
On the chest of drawers, a photograph showed Marc Morel holding Juliette by the shoulders during his swearing-in ceremony.
She did not respond immediately.
One of the babies started to cry.
Then the other one.
For 20 minutes, there was no longer any Delmas group, no millions, no lawyers.
Just 2 hungry infants, an exhausted mother who still struggled to get up, and a midwife reminding her not to carry both at the same time.
When calm returned, Juliette picked up her phone.
She wrote:
“These are not your grandsons to possess. These are their children and mine to protect.”
Then she blocked the number.
Two days later, Juliette appeared before the family court judge.
She walked slowly.
Her scar still burned with every step.
Sarah had suggested a discreet entrance through a side corridor, but Juliette had refused.
She no longer wanted to go around anyone.
Thomas was already in the room with his lawyer.
He looked as if he had aged 10 years in 72 hours.
Geneviève was sitting behind him, looking impeccable in a dark coat.
She watched Juliette enter as if she were contemplating an enemy.
The babies were not present.
They had stayed with the midwife.
The debate lasted more than 2 hours.
Thomas’s lawyer insisted on Juliette leaving the clinic.
He used the word “disappearance” several times.
Sarah se leva.
— Ms. Morel-Delmas left a private clinic with her children, of whom she is the mother, after informing her doctor. She went to a property she owns, accompanied by a healthcare professional. Her lawyer provided the address to Mr. Delmas’s lawyer less than 10 hours later.
She placed the coins on the desk.
— A disappearance implies that one seeks to hide. My client was only seeking to escape the pressure in her hospital room.
The opposing lawyer then attempted to portray Juliette as emotionally fragile.
— The birth was difficult. Mrs. Morel-Delmas has just learned of an infidelity. One can understand her judgment—
Sarah interrupted him.
— We are not going to turn a birth into a diagnosis.
The judge looked up.
— Counselor, let your colleague finish.
It ends.
Then Sarah produced the messages.
Geneviève had written to Thomas:
