Chapter 9 - The Son She Couldn’t Control
“Everyone out,” Ethan said.
No one moved at first.
They were too used to Margaret owning the room.
Then Ethan looked at the staff near the doorway.
“Please help Mrs. Carter and Judge Ellison to the front hall. Dinner is over.”
Margaret laughed in disbelief. “You cannot dismiss guests from my table.”
Ethan turned to her.
“It’s my table.”
Silence.
Margaret’s face hardened. “Excuse me?”
“This house passed into my trust after Dad died,” Ethan said. “You live here because I allowed it.”
A few guests stood quickly after that.
Elaine gathered her purse with shaking hands.
Margaret looked around, searching for loyalty, but loyalty in rooms like that always followed power, not love.
One by one, the witnesses left the dining room.
Soon only four people remained.
Isabella.
Ethan.
Margaret.
Rosa.
The chandelier hummed softly above them.
Isabella’s breathing was steadier now, but she had not removed her hands from her belly.
Ethan noticed.
The realization nearly broke him.
He turned to Rosa. “Did she hurt you? Did she touch you anywhere?”
Isabella shook her head. “I’m safe.”
Safe.
The word did not comfort him.
It accused him.
Margaret stepped forward. “This little performance has gone far enough.”
Ethan faced her fully.
“No. It ended the second you put your hands on my wife.”
“I was protecting you.”
“You were controlling me.”
“You are my son.”
Rosa’s eyes flickered.
Margaret saw it and smiled cruelly.
“And don’t let the maid confuse you with bedtime stories.”
Rosa’s face went still.
Ethan looked between them. “What does that mean?”
Margaret said nothing.
Rosa took a slow breath.
“There’s something else,” she said.
Margaret’s expression sharpened. “Don’t.”
Rosa looked at Ethan with the grief of a woman who had carried someone else’s secret too long.
“Your father wrote me a letter before he died.”
Ethan went pale. “About what?”
Rosa’s eyes filled.
“About why your mother was so afraid of losing control of the family bloodline.”
Margaret’s voice cracked like a whip.
“Rosa.”
But the old threat did not work anymore.
Rosa turned to Isabella first.
Then back to Ethan.
“Your father wanted you to know the truth before your child was born.”
Ethan barely breathed.
“What truth?”
Rosa looked at Margaret.
May you like
Then she said it.
“Margaret didn’t carry you either.”
