The room went completely silent, so still that the air conditioning seemed to roar.
Maris tried to recover her poise, glancing nervously at the watching crowd.
“That poor, confused child is simply imagining things, because Catherine left because she chose to abandon you,” she lied, her voice unsteady.
Annie pressed her face into Victor’s shoulder, crying quietly as she whispered to him.
“Grandma said that if Mom didn’t leave, you would lose your company and your reputation,” she whimpered.
Victor stared at his mother as if she had become a stranger, a woman he had never truly known.
“And the money, Mother?” he demanded, his voice rising.
“Where are the thousands of dollars I have been sending every month for the last three years?”
Maris pressed her lips together, her whole body beginning to shake beneath the weight of his stare.
“I kept the money to protect you from them, Victor, that is all!” she cried out.
