Chapter 3 - MICHAEL CAME HOME ANGRY
Michael arrived at our gate that afternoon.
The camera alerted my phone.
He stood beside his Range Rover pressing the call button over and over.
Ellen was upstairs.
I walked outside alone.
Michael saw me approaching.
“What the hell is going on?”
I stopped on the other side of the closed gate.
“You tell me.”
He threw his hands up.
“My code doesn’t work.”
“That was intentional.”
“Why?”
I looked directly at him.
“Your wedding.”
His face changed.
Not much.
But enough.
“I don’t know what Mom told you.”
“She told me she fell.”
Relief appeared for half a second.
Then disappeared when I continued.
“The cameras told me something different.”
Michael froze.
“What cameras?”
That question answered everything.
Not “Is Mom okay?”
Not “What did you see?”
What cameras?
I almost smiled.
“The ones in the bridal corridor.”
He stared at me.
“That hallway camera was broken.”
“So you knew about it.”
His jaw tightened.
“Cassandra said the coordinator told her.”
I stepped closer to the gate.
“The footage was recovered.”
Michael looked away.
“Dad, it wasn’t what it looked like.”
I felt something cold settle inside me.
“I watched you grab your mother.”
“She was creating a scene.”
“I watched Cassandra slap her.”
“Mom said something insulting.”
“I watched you put your hands on her.”
“She wouldn’t leave.”
“And then you shoved her into a wall.”
Michael’s face turned red.
“I did not shove her.”
I said nothing.
He hated silence.
He always had.
“It happened fast.”
Still I said nothing.
“Cassandra was stressed.”
Silence.
“Mom kept interfering.”
Silence.
Finally he snapped.
“Would you stop looking at me like that?”
“How should I look at you?”
Michael pointed toward the house.
“She’s filling your head with one version.”
“Your mother spent two days protecting you.”
That stopped him.
I continued.
“She lied for you.”
“She told me she fell.”
“She begged me not to call you because she didn’t want to ruin your wedding.”
Michael looked toward the house.
For the first time, shame appeared.
Then his phone buzzed.
He glanced down.
Cassandra.
Whatever shame existed vanished.
He answered.
“Yes, I’m here.”
Pause.
“No, he won’t open the gate.”
I almost laughed.
Michael looked at me.
“Cassandra wants to talk to you.”
“I don’t want to talk to Cassandra.”
“Dad, we are family now.”
“No.”
My voice remained calm.
“You married Cassandra.”
“That made her your wife.”
“It did not make her entitled to my attention after she struck mine.”
Michael’s face hardened.
“You’re overreacting.”
That sentence erased the last part of me still hoping for an apology.
I pulled a small envelope from my pocket.
“What’s that?”
“Notice from the company.”
His expression changed again.
“Notice of what?”
“A mandatory board review.”
Michael stared at me.
“What did you do?”
I shook my head.
May you like
“You keep asking the wrong question.”
The right question was what he had done.
