Chapter 10 - MARGARET'S SECRET
Margaret had done more than Charles knew.
She admitted it during family mediation.
She had paid Amber’s old landlord one month of rent secretly after Charles cut support.
Amber stared.
“What?”
Margaret cried.
“I couldn’t let you be evicted.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because your father would say I was undermining him.”
Contradiction.
Margaret sabotaged galleries to push Amber home.
Then secretly paid rent to keep Amber afloat.
Control and rescue intertwined.
Then another admission.
Margaret had bought two A.M. Vale paintings through an online marketplace without knowing they were Amber’s.
Amber stared.
“What?”
One hung in Margaret’s dressing room.
A painting of a woman holding a grocery receipt.
Margaret loved it.
Then discovered the artist was Amber months later when she found the shipping document.
Her first reaction was pride.
Her second:
fear.
If Amber was genuinely good, Charles might lose her to a life neither parent controlled.
So Margaret called Denise.
That was the emotional core.
Not:
my daughter will fail.
But:
my daughter may succeed without us.
Margaret whispered:
“I thought you’d stop needing me.”
Amber’s anger softened without disappearing.
“I’m your daughter. Not your project.”
Margaret nodded.
Then Amber asked:
“Did you tell Dad the paintings were mine?”
“No.”
Charles looked shocked.
For once, he had been outside the secret.
May you like
Family control had layers.
No one person held all of it.
