Chapter 9 - MARGARET'S VERSION
Margaret believed Haley was betraying Thomas.
She said:
“Your father built that company for his daughters.”
Haley answered:
“He built a company. Not a permanent obligation for me.”
“He trusted you.”
“I was twenty-five.”
“You knew what you signed.”
“Yes.”
That answer surprised Margaret.
Haley did not claim ignorance.
She continued:
“I signed to help during a crisis. Then I failed to monitor what remained in my name.”
Margaret seized on it.
“So this is your fault too.”
“Partly.”
Margaret froze.
Haley continued:
“That doesn’t give Vanessa permission to hide spending.”
No perfect victim.
No perfect villain.
Just responsibility separated into parts.
Margaret hated that framework because family loyalty had always blurred categories.
Margaret tried one last use of Thomas.
“He would never have let the company shrink.”
Haley answered:
“He also never ran it with a $300,000 line.”
“You don’t know what he would have done.”
“Neither do you.”
Silence.
That was the first time Haley directly challenged the family’s use of the dead.
Thomas’s memory had become a voting share everyone claimed when convenient.
May you like
He could not vote.
The living had to own their decisions.
