Chapter 8 - Diane Had Been Running The Family Performance
Diane was not merely a supportive mother.
She was the architect of the public image.
Gold sequins.
Perfect posture.
Cold eyes.
She understood status instinctively.
Her daughter had married into the Hale family.
That marriage elevated the Vale family socially in ways Diane had wanted for decades.
A pregnancy cemented it.
A Hale baby meant permanence.
So when Vanessa told Diane she had lied about being pregnant, Diane did not demand she stop.
She asked:
“How long until you can make it real?”
That message was recovered from Vanessa’s phone.
Vanessa replied:
Julian thinks I miscarried now.
Diane:
Then give him another reason to wait.
Later:
Cesare won’t restructure anything for you without a child.
And:
Keep Avice away from him. He gets sentimental when she’s around.
That sentence made Cesare feel physically ill.
Diane had identified his love for his granddaughter as an obstacle.
So she began encouraging small humiliations.
Correcting Avice publicly.
Excluding her from photographs.
Calling her “Julian’s difficult first child.”
Each move weakened the emotional position of the real child while strengthening sympathy around the nonexistent one.
The fake pregnancy was not one woman’s fantasy.
May you like
It had become a family strategy.
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