Dominic's face changes as the implications land. The tightness around his jaw loosens by degrees.
"He wrote this clause to protect his legacy from challengers." I lean back in my chair. "He never considered that his legacy might challenge him."
"He wrote the lock and gave us the key." Mattaniah sets the pen down.
"But there's a complication." I lay out the contestability window for Dominic. "We need the bonding registration, confirmation of pregnancy from a licensed practitioner, and theoriginal clause documentation. All of it needs to be clean and filed before Father has time to mount a preemptive challenge."
"He'll find out about the pregnancy when we file." Dominic's voice has gone quiet. "The heir notification becomes part of the corporate record."
"That's the part that concerns me." I set down my coffee. "Right now Father doesn't know Mattaniah is pregnant. The moment we file, he does. And the heir clause protects us legally, but it doesn't protect us physically. Father's response to losing control has never been to hire a better lawyer."
The kitchen falls silent as Mattaniah's hand unconsciously moves to his stomach.
"He came after you with his fists when you challenged him at the board meeting," Mattaniah says. "What does he do when he finds out we've used his own legal framework to lock him out permanently?"
"That's what we need to plan for before we file." Dominic hasn't moved from the doorway, his scent thickening in the kitchen air until I can taste smoke on my tongue. "The filing triggers legal protection. What triggers the physical protection?"
"We need a security upgrade on the apartment." I'm already making notes on the legal pad. "We file a restraining order simultaneously with the heir notification and move the doctor's appointment up if we can."
"I have an appointment Thursday." Mattaniah glances at me over his glasses.
"Yes, Dr. Vasquez confirmed for Thursday." I write the name down. "But outside counsel will need the rest of this week to review the original clause language against the amended filings. If we rush the legal review, we leave gaps that Father's attorneys will exploit. We build the filing around the medical confirmation and give counsel the time to make it airtight."
"That gives Father the weekend to react before the legal protections are in place." Dominic crosses to the table and stands behind Mattaniah's chair. His hand finds the Omega's shoulder and grips. "I want the restraining order filed before the heir notification, not simultaneously."
"That tips him off early."
"A restraining order tips him off that we're afraid. An heir notification tips him off that we're armed." Dominic's grip tightens on Mattaniah's shoulder. "I'd rather he know we're afraid than know we're armed before the protections lock."
Mattaniah nods. "We file the restraining order next Wednesday. The heir notification goes Friday after the doctor's appointment confirms the pregnancy on Thursday. That gives us the legal confirmation we need. The protective order will be in place before Richard sees the corporate filing."
The Omega sitting in my kitchen just mapped a legal strategy with more precision than most corporate attorneys I've worked with. He found the clause in fifty-seven minutes. He's been thinking about the strategic implications for two days.
"You found this." I say it across the table.
"I found a clause, that's all." His flush creeps from his collar to his ears. "You and outside counsel are the ones who'll make it hold up."
I reach across the table and close my hand over his where it rests on his stomach. Dominic's hand moves from Mattaniah's shoulder to cover mine.
"I told you I was good at forensic accounting." Mattaniah's mouth curves and he pulls his hand back to pick up his coffee, hiding a smile he can't suppress. "I need a copy of the original clause sent to outside counsel for verification." He says it into his mug. "If the language holds up under review, we file Friday and the protections activate."
"I'll draft the filing today." I pull the legal pad toward me and start making notes.
Dominic leans down and presses his mouth against the top of Mattaniah's head. When he straightens I can read the controlled fury in his jaw, aimed at a target that isn't in the room.
"Let him find out." Mattaniah sets his coffee down. "Let him read the clause he wrote and realize the Omega he spent weeks putting his hands on just turned his own legal framework against him."
"He will find out." Dominic's voice is flat. "And then we'll find out what he does about it."
We have nine days.
Amos
Thetransitiondocumentshavebeen spread across Dominic's desk for three hours and my eyes are starting to blur on the column headers.
It's past eight on a Tuesday evening and the building has emptied out floor by floor since five. The security guard Dominic hired after Richard's removal is stationed at the elevator bank on our floor. The office is quiet enough that I can hear theventilation system cycling and Mattaniah's breathing from the armchair in the corner. He fell asleep forty minutes ago with his laptop still open on his chest.
He works until his body overrides his brain, then drifts off in whatever position he was sitting in. Tonight he made it to the armchair before sleep took him, his legs tucked beneath him. His scent fills the office, sweet enough that I can taste it from across the room.
