Chapter 13 - Margaret’s choice
The video showed the Prescott library.
Margaret sat beside the fireplace.
Brandon paced.
Leonard Graves stood near the desk.
Ethan looked nervous.
The conversation concerned Emily’s trust.
Brandon:
“She signs or we move without her.”
Leonard:
“You can’t.”
Brandon:
“We’ve forged harder things.”
Ethan:
“She’ll call her mother.”
Margaret finally spoke.
“Then let her.”
Everyone turned.
Brandon stared.
“What?”
“Victoria Hart is exactly why William created that money.”
Silence.
Margaret knew.
Not everything.
But enough.
Brandon said:
“You told us Dad was senile.”
Margaret:
“I told you what kept you from digging.”
Then Leonard:
“You’re changing sides now?”
Margaret looked at him.
“No.”
“I’m trying to stop my sons from becoming their father’s worst mistake.”
The video complicated everything.
Margaret had participated in controlling Emily.
She had lied at the hospital.
She had helped protect the family.
But she had also resisted taking the trust.
Why?
Not morality alone.
Fear.
She remembered what the old network cost them.
Then the video showed Brandon crossing the room and gripping his mother’s face.
“Stay out of this.”
Margaret did not move.
“You sound exactly like William did before he disappeared.”
Brandon:
“Dad is dead.”
Margaret:
“No.”
Ethan looked up.
He had heard that before.
Then Leonard shut the camera angle by closing a cabinet door.
Recording ended.
Margaret had suspected William was alive for years.
She never knew where.
She protected that suspicion because Brandon and Leonard frightened her.
But she still failed Emily.
When confronted, she didn’t excuse it.
“I thought if Emily stayed quiet, Brandon would stop.”
I looked at her.
“You taught my daughter to survive abuse instead of stopping the abuser.”
“Yes.”
That answer surprised me.
No defense.
No tears.
Just yes.
Then she looked at Emily.
“I am sorry.”
Emily stared at her.
“I don’t forgive you.”
Margaret nodded.
May you like
“You shouldn’t.”
That might have been the first honest exchange between them.
