Chapter 6 - “He’d Be Perfect If He Were Mine”
Vivienne had never had children.
She told Grant she didn’t want them.
Then Noah changed that.
At first, Grant thought her attachment was sweet.
She bought him clothes.
Learned his feeding schedule.
Volunteered for bath time.
Asked to be listed as an emergency contact.
Then the behavior shifted.
She corrected Tessa constantly.
“You hold him wrong.”
“You feed him too slowly.”
“You spoil him.”
She removed photographs of Julia from Noah’s nursery.
Grant put them back.
Vivienne said:
“He doesn’t need pictures of a dead woman.”
Grant nearly ended the relationship that night.
She apologized.
Cried.
Promised she was trying too hard to help.
Grant believed her.
Now investigators found messages to a friend.
VIVIENNE: Grant still acts like Julia is Noah’s mother.
FRIEND: She is.
VIVIENNE: She’s dead.
Another:
Once Noah gets used to me, he won’t remember her.
Grant had to stop reading.
Julia had died from complications after emergency surgery when Noah was six weeks old.
Grant kept photographs because he wanted Noah to know her.
Vivienne saw those photographs as competition.
Then came her search history.
Can stepmother become guardian if father incapacitated?
Can guardian change child’s surname?
Can trustee use funds for child residence?
Can guardian relocate minor without biological parent consent?
Grant felt nauseated.
She had planned a future.
One where Grant still existed enough to provide money—
but not enough to make decisions.
Then the security company found another camera clip.
Vivienne speaking to Martin in the foyer two weeks earlier.
Martin said:
“We only need the hearing postponed until the accounts are moved.”
Vivienne replied:
“I’m not doing all this so Grant can recover and kick me out.”
Martin looked surprised.
“What are you saying?”
Vivienne smiled.
“If the court thinks he’s permanently impaired, I keep Noah.”
Martin whispered:
“That wasn’t the deal.”
Vivienne answered:
“It is now.”
The partnership was breaking before Grant even discovered it.
Martin wanted financial survival.
Vivienne wanted a family she could possess.
Then Martin decided to cooperate.
Not nobly.
His attorney advised him the evidence was overwhelming.
He turned over emails.
Financial records.
Voice notes.
One recording was from Vivienne.
“If Grant fights me, I’ll say Tessa and he are sleeping together.”
Grant almost laughed.
Tessa looked horrified when told.
“She what?”
Vivienne had prepared that too.
Photographs of Grant and Tessa with Noah.
Completely ordinary.
Tessa handing Grant a bottle.
Grant touching her shoulder while thanking her.
Tessa crying after Julia’s memorial anniversary.
Vivienne had captioned them privately:
Too close.
Possible affair.
Another narrative ready to deploy.
Grant said quietly:
“She turns everything into evidence.”
Tessa nodded.
“Because she thinks emotion is ownership.”
Grant looked at her.
“What?”
“She doesn’t want to love people.”
Tessa swallowed.
“She wants proof they belong to her.”
That sentence stayed with him.
Then Noah’s pediatrician called.
Grant had requested a full examination after the kick.
No serious injury.
Thank God.
But the doctor found something else in previous records.
Three appointments Grant never attended.
Vivienne had taken Noah.
At one, she told the pediatrician Grant was experiencing “cognitive decline.”
At another, she asked what documentation might be needed if a parent became incapable.
The doctor had documented the conversation.
Vivienne had been building witnesses.
Then came the most disturbing note.
Vivienne asked whether “attachment problems” could justify limiting a child’s contact with a caregiver.
Tessa.
May you like
She had been preparing to erase everyone Noah trusted.
👉 Vivienne’s plan was not only to gain Noah—it was to systematically remove every person who could challenge her control over him.
