“You’re hungry? Then chew on your tears, because useless boys who can’t even wash clothes properly don’t deserve a single bite in this house.”

The court ordered a settlement conference covering the divorce, FreshFold property, the disputed investment funds, and temporary financial support.

Lucas was not required to attend.

He asked to come anyway.

Candice entered with her attorney and sat at the opposite end of the table. Ethan had not seen her in three months.

She looked smaller without the house, business, and daily control surrounding her.

Lauren began with the financial records.

Candice interrupted.

“I built something from nothing. Ethan travels around pretending to provide while everyone else handles his life.”

“You built it under a child’s identity,” Lauren said.

“I intended to transfer it properly when Lucas turned eighteen.”

“With debts attached.”

“With a functioning company.”

Samuel placed the second accounting system on the table.

FreshFold had been insolvent for nearly a year.

Candice looked toward Lucas.

“You could’ve had a future with that business.”

“I wanted to finish high school.”

“You had no discipline.”

“You didn’t feed me.”

Her eyes moved away.

Ethan asked why she struck him.

“I lost control.”

“For ten months?”

Candice folded her arms.

“You don’t know what it was like. The machines failed. Customers threatened lawsuits. Brooke’s tuition was due. You signed one form and disappeared into airports while I kept everything standing.”

“That doesn’t answer him.”

Candice looked at Lucas again.

“I needed you to cooperate.”

“You needed me scared.”

The words landed without drama because nobody could argue with them.

Brooke admitted what she had wanted to protect.

College.

A future separate from her mother’s bankruptcy and failed marriage.

Ethan admitted he wanted to protect his identity as a provider without giving up the job that kept him away.

Candice said she wanted to protect Brooke from inheriting the instability she had endured after her first husband left her with debt.

Lucas listened to all three adults explain what they feared losing.

Then he said, “Everybody protected a future except mine.”

Candice’s attorney proposed a civil settlement. Candice would surrender FreshFold assets and waive claims to Lucas’s account if Ethan agreed that the business had been jointly planned and that the physical discipline was unrelated to its finances.

Ethan refused.

Candice leaned toward him.

“You admit your part, and suddenly you want to act clean.”

“I’m not clean.”

“Then stop making me carry all of it.”

“You won’t carry my part,” Ethan said. “But Lucas isn’t carrying yours.”

The conference ended without agreement.

As Candice gathered her papers, she asked Lucas whether he believed she had ever cared about him.

He paused at the door.

“I think you cared when it didn’t cost you anything.”