Chapter 9 - The Break from the Dynasty
The silence inside the kitchen was deafening, punctuated only by the low hum of the refrigerator and the quiet, steady sobs of little Leo against Emily’s neck.
Richard stood frozen between the two women—between the mother who had controlled every aspect of his existence and the wife holding his bruised, trembling son.
For three long seconds, Richard’s chest heaved as he struggled to find his breath.
Then, slowly, Richard set his leather briefcase down on the kitchen island. He reached up with both hands, unbuttoning his silk tie, pulling it off his collar, and dropping it onto the quartz counter.
He stepped over the scattered kibble on the floor, walking right past his mother, and stood directly beside Emily.
He placed his broad, warm hand firmly on the back of Emily’s beige trench coat, pulling her and Leo close into his side, positioning his frame between his family and Diane.
"Richard?" Diane gasped, her eyes wide with fury and shock. "What are you doing?!"
Richard looked at his mother, his eyes filled with a deep, unyielding sadness, mixed with an anger that had been thirty years in the making.
"We are leaving, Mom," Richard said, his voice steady and clear. "And we are never coming back."
"You leave this house," Diane warned, her voice dropping into a desperate, lethal threat, "and you are fired from the firm by five o'clock. I will cut you off from the trust. I will remove you from the estate. You will have nothing!"
Richard looked down at his son’s bruised forearm, then up at his mother’s cold face.
May you like
"Keep the money, Mom," Richard said quietly. "Keep the firm, keep the estate, and keep this empty, miserable house. Because none of it is worth a single hair on my son’s head."
Richard turned to Emily, placing his arm securely around her waist. "Let’s go home, sweetheart. I’ll carry the bags."
