Chapter 13 - The Family Fractures
By Wednesday, the walls of the Vance family fortress completely disintegrated from the inside out.
Sarah received a frantic, tearful phone call from my mother, Helen, who was suddenly realizing the stark reality of her situation. With Donald facing felony charges, their joint bank accounts frozen pending civil litigation, and Lucas completely incapable of holding down a stable job without his father’s patronage, the illusion of elite wealth had evaporated.
“Your mother wants to know if she can come stay here,” Sarah said quietly, holding the phone away from her ear as my mother’s hysterical voice bled through the speaker.
I looked up from my workbench, my expression neutral. “What did you tell her?”
“I told her that she spent thirty years enabling a tyrant, mocked me when I needed support, and watched your father throw a plate at your head without blinking an eye,” Sarah replied, her voice steady and unyielding. “I told her she could sleep in her own bed at the main house or find a motel. But she is not welcome under our roof.”
A slow, proud smile spread across my face. Sarah had officially broken free from the generational cycle.
May you like
“Good answer,” I said softly.
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