“I only need him gone, and then everything will finally return to normal. Brandon is only weak because of that child,” she whispered quietly.
The instant she noticed me standing nearby, she ended the call and casually claimed she had been speaking with a neighbor about a stray cat.
Looking back, I should have told Brandon everything immediately. Instead, he was overwhelmed by an important construction project, and I convinced myself she was simply being overly dramatic.
That belief lasted until Madeline calmly insisted that I prepare the holiday dessert.
“This year, you’ll make the blackberry cobbler, and prepare a separate plate for me because I want the boy to bring it himself,” she instructed. “If he expects to be treated like a true grandson, he needs to learn proper respect.”
I honestly convinced myself this could become our chance to make peace. I believed that if Luke behaved perfectly, perhaps she would finally begin accepting him, even if only a little.
But the moment I saw the darkness in her eyes on the patio just before she kicked the plate away, I finally understood everything.
She had never planned to taste that blackberry cobbler.
Her only goal had been to humiliate us before the entire family.
