— You would try to take back control immediately.
— So you decided I shouldn't know my wife had cancer.
Margaret:
— Only until she stabilized.
— Then she started treatment.
— And every week seemed like a worse moment to tell you.
— And the emails about divorce?
Margaret cried harder.
— That was later.
— Claire started getting suspicious about the documents.
— She wanted to call you.
— She told me she wouldn't sign anything else.
— I needed her to stop asking questions.
David stood there.
— So you made her believe I was going to abandon her.
Margaret:
— I didn't think she would fully believe it.
— What on earth does that mean?
— I thought you two knew each other well enough.
— Mom.
— You wrote to her from my account.
— Yes.
— You blocked her messages.
— Yes.
— You told me she didn't want to worry me.
— Yes.
— You told her I couldn't handle her illness.
Margaret sobbed.
— Yes.
Every "yes" was worse than the last.
David:
— Why didn't you just tell me about the money?
— Because I knew how you would look at me.
— Like this?
— Yes.
Silence.
Margaret:
— Your father looked at me like that once.
— When?
— When I wanted to invest in an expansion and he said I didn't understand risk.
— I spent thirty years being the wife of the man who made the decisions.
— When he died, I thought that finally…
She stopped.
David:
— That finally it was yours?
— Yes.
— The control.
— Yes.
— And you were willing to destroy my marriage to keep it.
Margaret:
— I didn't want to destroy it.
David:
— What you wanted doesn't matter anymore.
— What you did matters.
Another phrase he would repeat often later on: intention doesn't erase impact.
Margaret sat down.
— Are you going to report me?
David:
— I won't decide that alone.
— It's my signature.
— And it affects the trust.
— But Claire was also manipulated.
— There are lawyers.
— There will be an audit.
— And I don't want you speaking to her alone right now.
Margaret stood up.
— Are you kicking me out?
— I don't know.
— The house is in the trust.
— That will be decided.
— I don't want to make decisions today out of rage.
Margaret gave a sad, almost invisible smile.
— You didn't learn that from me.