Evelyn turned around.
“No, son. This didn’t get out of control. This showed the control you wanted to have over me.”
Daniel’s eyes were reddening.
“I thought you’d say no if I asked.”
“That’s why you didn’t ask.”
He lowered his head.
“I thought that, since I’m your son, I could decide some things.”
For a moment, Evelyn wanted to embrace him.
That instinct was almost unbearable.
He was still her son, regardless of what he’d done.
Love didn’t vanish simply because someone had misused it. It remained painfully present, even when trust had been damaged.
But loving Daniel didn’t require her to accept his betrayal.
“Being my son gives you my love,” she said. “Not my signature, not my keys, not my house, not my memories.”
Daniel began crying without making a sound.
Claire emerged from the ballroom behind him.
