Hazel's POV
“He's not just trying to win the board,” Ruth said, her voice trembling through the phone line, “he's planning to have someone contest your pregnancy's paternity in person, at your own announcement.”
I gripped the phone so tightly my knuckles ached, Julian leaning close enough to hear every word, both of us frozen in our kitchen while a stranger's voice unraveled a plan uglier than anything either of us had braced ourselves for since this entire nightmare began.
“Who,” Julian said sharply, taking the phone from my hand. “Who is he planning to send?”
“Penelope,” Ruth said. “She made bail two days ago on a technicality. Your father arranged her release himself. She's planning to show up at your announcement and claim the pregnancy happened during an affair she says she witnes
