Chapter 6 - Chloe Changed Sides First
Chloe texted Mason the next afternoon.
Ryan saw the name appear on Mason’s tablet and started to take it away.
Mason shook his head.
“I want to read it.”
The message was short.
I’m sorry about dinner.
A second arrived.
Mom says you’re ruining everything.
Then a third.
If you tell them about the wall, I have to go live with my dad.
Mason stared at the screen.
Ryan did not touch it.
He took photographs only after asking Mason’s permission and forwarded them to the assigned caseworker.
“Did Vanessa tell Chloe that?” Ryan asked.
Mason nodded.
“What happened at the wall?”
Mason’s breathing changed.
Ryan stopped.
“We don’t have to do this right now.”
That afternoon, Ryan’s mother, Diane, came over with soup.
She had always liked Vanessa.
“She held this family together while you traveled,” Diane said quietly in the kitchen.
Ryan turned toward her.
“Mom, Mason says he wasn’t fed.”
“I’m not defending that.”
“It sounds like you are.”
“I’m saying you need facts before you destroy a marriage.”
Ryan laughed once without humor.
“My son asked his counselor whether I could legally send him away.”
Diane’s face changed.
Ryan expected her to apologize.
Instead, she looked toward the family room.
“I heard Chloe say something like that at Easter.”
Ryan stared at her.
“What?”
“She told Mason maybe he’d be happier with Laura’s parents.”
“And you didn’t tell me?”
“I thought they were fighting.”
“You thought wrong.”
Diane set the soup on the counter.
For the first time, Ryan saw that the family’s failure had been collective.
Vanessa had acted.
Chloe had participated.
But adults had seen pieces and chosen the most comfortable explanation.
Including him.
Especially him.
Diane left twenty minutes later, shaken.
Before she did, she said, “There’s one more thing.”
Ryan waited.
“The weekend Mason got hurt, Chloe asked me if falling eight feet could kill somebody.”
Ryan felt the blood drain from his face.
“Was that before or after the accident?”
May you like
Diane looked ashamed.
“Before.”
