Chapter 5 - Michael’s biggest flaw was not greed but avoidance
Michael Reed loved his mother and trusted his wife, which might sound like balance but often acted more like paralysis.
He had grown up between two strong people: a father who expected competence and a mother who noticed everything. After his father died, Michael spent years trying to keep peace wherever possible. He hated domestic scenes, hated choosing sides, hated the emotional labor required when two intelligent women he loved clearly disliked each other.
Serena learned to use that.
Whenever Catherine raised concerns about spending, Serena reframed them as snobbery or control. Catherine didn’t understand modern brand partnerships. Catherine resented not being the woman running the house anymore. Catherine had never accepted that Michael chose a younger, glamorous wife whose approach was more contemporary than Catherine’s.
Some of those complaints contained just enough emotional truth to work. Catherine was controlling sometimes. Serena was younger and different. There had always been tension.
So Michael treated every dispute as personality conflict instead of pattern recognition.
That helped Serena more than he understood.
The morning Catherine collapsed, Michael was told by paramedics that her medication list needed review. Serena stood beside him in tears and said, “She probably doubled something by accident and was embarrassed to tell us.”
Michael did not fully believe that, but he wanted a clean explanation badly enough to leave space for it.
Catherine would later remember that with pain.
Not because he failed to love her.
Because love without moral clarity becomes easy to manipulate.
By the time Catherine was released from the hospital, Michael had already settled into a hopeful middle position: something medical had happened, but it was best not to inflame family tensions while his mother recovered.
That was exactly the mental territory Serena needed him in.
Not convinced of innocence.
May you like
Just not ready to confront guilt.
---
