Chapter 16
Ryan said nothing at first
. He simply stared at his son–this man he’d raised–wondering when he had become so… unrecognizable.
There was a time when Lucas clung to me, when our bond made Ryan worry that his son might never fully accept Madeline.
But look at him now.
Lucas hadn’t called me ‘Mom‘ in years.
Ryan’s thoughts drifted to the night before–to the divorce papers he had signed with his own hand. He hadn’t expected it to go that far. Not really.
And now, watching Lucas unravel, he couldn’t stop the cold twist of fear unfurling in his gut.
It’s fine, he told himself. She’s not going anywhere.
I–Elise Thornton, the woman he thought he’d broken–had been under his thumb for forty years. He believed that even with some cash in hand, I wouldn’t survive on my own.
This world had changed too much, he reasoned. Without him, he thought, I wouldn’t last.
That delusion calmed him. Just enough. So he pulled out his phone and began dialing. Again and again.
But I didn’t pick up: Not once.
Lucas, fuming beside him, was spiraling. The audacity of it all. The betrayal. The loss of control. He grabbed his phone and started sending message after message, bombarding
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me with texts like I’d just forgotten my place.
[Mom! Are you out of your mind? You’re too old for this–what kind of stunt are you pulling?!]
[Why the hell would you sell the house? I’ve lived there for almost thirty years! Did you even think about where Dad and I are supposed to go now?]
[You’re so damn selfish!]
Ryan had spent thirty minutes trying to reach me by phone and had gotten nothing.
Lucas, on the other hand, got a reply in seconds.
A short one. Calm. Measured. Blunt.
[The house was part of my dowry. I sold it because it was mine.]
[Your father and I are divorced. I owe neither of you anything. Don’t contact me again.]
That was it.
Lucas stared at the message like it had physically slapped him.
He couldn’t believe it. Couldn’t believe I, the woman he once saw as meek and obedient, would suddenly turn around and bite him like this.
His pride snapped.
His fingers flew across the screen, each word laced with
venom.
[You were nothing but a glorified maid in this family. Dad supported you all these years–how dare you sell the house?
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That property belongs to BOTH of you. And by extension, to me.]
He hit send, expecting me to lash back or defend myself.
But he never got the chance.
Because by the time I sent that final message, I had already blocked both him and Ryan.
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