Chapter 3 - The Arrogant Ultimatum
The cinematic realism of the suffocating tension paralyzed the dining room.
Theo slammed his hands down on the wooden table, making the crystal wine glasses rattle violently. He glared at his mother, demanding her absolute, unquestioning submission.
"Apologize to my wife," Theo demanded firmly, his eyes flashing with cruel authority. "Get on your knees, apologize for disrespecting her in her own home, or I am packing your bags tonight."
Camila looked at her son. He was thirty-four years old, but he was acting like an entitled, spoiled tyrant.
Then, Camila looked down at Hugo.
The nine-year-old boy was wiping his tearful eyes with his sleeve, visibly shaking from the traumatic screaming match. He looked up at his grandmother with pure, unfiltered desperation, begging her silently not to leave him alone with his toxic parents.
In that exact microsecond, something inside Camila fundamentally snapped.
For ten years, she had played the role of the quiet, dependent widow to protect her son's fragile ego. She had let him pretend he was a "self-made" millionaire. She had let him believe he bought this massive suburban estate with his own hard work.
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But looking at the tears on her grandson's face, Camila realized that protecting Theo’s ego had created a monster.
👉 Camila stopped crying, and the cold, terrifying transformation that washed over her face made Khloe step backward.
