WHAT NATHAN CHOSE
Margaret tried one last time.
She did what she always did when power slipped.
She became a mother.
Her voice softened. Her eyes shone. Her hand reached toward Nathan like he was still a little boy with a scraped knee.
“Darling,” she whispered. “I made mistakes. But everything I did was for you.”
Nathan looked at her hand.
Then at Abigail, still sitting on the marble floor in a white robe, still holding her belly like the room itself could hurt her.
“No,” he said. “Everything you did was to keep me yours.”
Margaret’s lips parted.
“You don’t mean that.”
“I do.”
“You would choose her over your own mother?”
Nathan’s face tightened.
“I am choosing my wife. My child. And the truth.”
Claire began to cry silently.
Maybe from relief.
Maybe from shame.
Maybe both.
Nathan took out his phone and called the family doctor first. Then the attorney. Then security.
Margaret listened in disbelief as her son spoke with calm precision.
A medical check for Abigail.
A review of all trust documents.
Removal of Margaret’s access to household files.
A security escort if she refused to leave.
“You can’t humiliate me like this,” Margaret said.
Nathan looked at her.
“You humiliated yourself.”
Margaret’s gaze moved to Abigail.
For one moment, Abigail saw pure hatred.
Then fear covered it.
Nathan noticed that too.
He stepped fully in front of Abigail.
“Look at me,” he said.
Margaret did.
“If you speak to her again without her permission, you will hear from my lawyer before you hear from me.”
May you like
The old mansion seemed to exhale.
For the first time since Abigail had entered that family, Margaret had no room left to rewrite the story.
