Chapter 2
The heavy silence that settled over the grand estate felt heavier than lead as the tail lights of the last guest vehicle vanished down the drive. Eleanor spun around, her velvet gown rustling aggressively as she pointed a trembling, manicured finger at her son.
"You chose that ungrateful woman and her useless child over your own mother who built this family fortune!" Eleanor screamed. Ethan set Lily down gently, whispering for her to go upstairs to her playroom with her mother while he handled the trash.
Clara hesitated at the bottom of the grand staircase, her bandaged arm throbbing as she looked back at her husband with deep concern. "Be careful, Ethan... she still controls the board seats on the primary family trust," Clara warned quietly.
"Let her check her board seats; she'll find out who actually holds the controlling voting shares," Ethan replied without breaking eye contact. Clara nodded, taking Lily's small hand and leading her away from the toxic battlefield of the ground floor.
Once they were out of sight, Ethan turned back to face his mother, his expression hardening into an impenetrable wall of steel. "You locked my wife and daughter in the west wing, denied them food, and forced a five-year-old to carry boiling soup," Ethan stated flatly.
"They are freeloaders who contribute nothing to our high-society standing; I was simply teaching them discipline!" Eleanor defended herself shrilly. Ethan let out a cold, humorless laugh that echoed through the high-ceilinged foyer like a sharp crack of thunder.
"Discipline? You burned my wife's arm with scalding water three days ago and threatened to disown me if I intervened," Ethan recalled. Eleanor's face paled noticeably, her arrogant facade faltering for a split second before she recovered her aggressive stance.
"That was an accident in the kitchen! You have no proof of any intentional harm, and my lawyers will tear you apart!" she bluffed. Ethan reached into his burgundy suit jacket, pulling out a sleek tablet and tapping the screen twice with a calm smile.
"I don't need lawyers to prove anything when every square inch of this house is monitored by high-definition security domes," Ethan noted. He pressed play on the tablet, projecting clear, unedited footage of Eleanor deliberately splashing hot grease onto Clara's arm.
The audio filled the quiet hallway, broadcasting Eleanor's cruel laughter and vicious insults for the entire estate to witness. Eleanor stared at the screen in absolute horror, her knees buckling slightly as she realized her crimes were fully documented.
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"You... you spied on your own mother? How could you betray me like a common criminal?" Eleanor whispered in sheer terror. "You turned this home into a prison camp, Mother, and today your sentence is officially being handed down," Ethan answered coldly.
The framed US flag on the wall seemed to watch over the confrontation like an eternal symbol of unyielding law and order.
