I almost laughed at the symmetry.
“You were building your life out of mine.”
He looked up.
That landed.
“She was going to leave me.”
“Yes.”
“She used me.”
“Yes.”
Then came the question that told me he was not ready.
“Did you know?”
I stared.
“No.”
“Would you have told me?”
I almost couldn’t believe it.
“Trevor.”
“What?”
“You assaulted me.”
“You tried to forge control of my company.”
“You signed false property documents.”
“And your first instinct is to ask why your mother didn’t protect you from the woman you were helping defraud her?”
His face collapsed.
He began crying.
I stood.
“Meeting over.”
“Mom, wait.”
I turned.
He covered his face.
Then said something different.
“I’m doing it again.”
I waited.
He looked at me.
“Making myself the victim.”
For the first time since this began—
I sat back down.
“Yes.”
He nodded slowly.
“I don’t know how not to.”
