Twenty years earlier

Adelaide

"No," I repeated, as my mother, Olivia, held tightly to my hand.

There had been so many conversations and decrees I'd heard while within the regal walls of my father's home office. For all of my life it had been his throne room, his center for control. From within this room he'd make decisions and pass judgment, but today was different. Charles Montague II wasn't telling. Like my mother and me, he was listening. Today's news ...