Chapter 14 - The Price Haven property
Price Haven was beautiful.
That was almost insulting.
Forty-three acres.
Stone house.
High fences.
Private road.
Safe room.
Independent water.
Backup generator.
Belladonna bought it eight months earlier for:
$3.9 million.
Through her LLC.
She said it was an investment property.
Maybe partly.
Renovation plans identified:
Child suite.
Tutor room.
Secure indoor play area.
Then one architectural note:
BP requests bedroom adjacent to primary suite for E.C.
Belladonna Price.
Eira Costello.
She had been designing a place for my daughter to live before I agreed.
Could she legally move Eira there without my permission?
No.
Not while I remained available parent.
Then standby plan.
Belladonna hired family-law attorney Patricia Sloan to draft emergency documents.
Patricia’s emails repeatedly said:
Any standby arrangement must be signed by Valerian and may remain subject to court oversight.
Belladonna:
What if he is detained unexpectedly?
Patricia:
Existing estate documents and child-welfare/family court procedures govern. You cannot create unilateral authority.
Then:
Can possession establish temporary stability?
Patricia responded sharply:
Do not structure around possession of a child.
Good lawyer.
Belladonna later stopped using Patricia.
She hired a document-preparation service for broader caregiver forms.
That looked worse.
But still:
Unsigned.
No fake court order.
No completed guardianship theft.
The danger was planning and pressure.
Then my estate documents.
Current guardian nominee if I died/incapacitated:
Amelia’s sister Catherine Monroe.
She lived in Connecticut.
Married.
Two children.
Clean background.
Belladonna was not listed.
Why?
Because when I created plan after Amelia died, Belladonna was not yet in our lives.
Belladonna knew.
She hated it.
Her message to a friend:
If something happens to him, Eira goes to a woman she sees four times a year while I’m the one here every day.
That grievance was emotionally understandable.
Her solution was not.
I arranged for Catherine to spend more time with Eira going forward.
May you like
Not because I expected death.
Because backup plans work better when children know the backup adult.
