He stepped closer anyway.
“You have no idea what you’ve done.”
“I know exactly what I’ve done.”
“You’ve destroyed Mom.”
“No. I disappointed her. She destroyed herself trying to avoid the feeling.”
His jaw worked.
“You always thought you were better than us.”
“No, Brent. I kept hoping you were better than this.”
For a second, something real flickered in his eyes.
Then he buried it.
“You know Dad won’t actually leave her.”
“He already signed a lease.”
That hit him.
“What?”
“He moves Saturday.”
Brent looked truly shaken.
Not because Dad was leaving Mom.
Because Dad had moved without asking his permission to remain weak.
“You poisoned him,” Brent said.
“No. You ran out of antidote.”
He lunged forward one step.
I lifted the phone higher.
“Try it.”
He stopped.
Behind him, a security guard stepped out of the building.
“Everything okay, Ms. Callahan?”
Brent turned, smile snapping into place.
