Chapter 5 - The Family Meeting
The next evening, my phone rang. It wasn't Daniel. It was Ethan, the younger brother who had whispered “Wow” while watching me get slapped across the face.
“Clara? Please, you have to answer,” Ethan’s voice was shaking. “We’re at the downtown office. Dad had chest pains an hour ago—he’s resting, but mom is crying uncontrollably, and Daniel... Daniel is completely losing his mind.”
“Why are you calling me, Ethan?” I asked calmly, sipping a cup of chamomile tea by the penthouse window.
“Because the lawyers are saying we’re facing total liquidation by Friday. The house, the cars, the accounts—everything is being seized. Dad said you’re the only one who can stop it. Can’t we... can’t we sit down and talk like family?”
“Family,” I repeated the word slowly. “Is that what you call a household where a woman gets assaulted for being five minutes late with eggs while everyone else sits around laughing?”
Silence stretched across the phone line.
“I saw you, Ethan,” I continued, my voice dropping into a colder register. “I saw you sitting right there at the end of the table when your brother hit me. You didn't try to stop him. You didn't call for help. You just watched. So don't talk to me about family.”
“I’m sorry!” Ethan sobbed over the line. “I was scared of Daniel! We’re all scared of him! He controls the family trust!”
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“Well,” I said. “He doesn't control anything anymore. If you want to talk, tell Daniel to bring his mother and father to my office tomorrow morning at nine o’clock sharp. No lawyers. Just the people who sat at that table.”
I hung up before he could answer.
