CHAPTER 7: A Servant No Longer

Margaret had imagined this moment many times and never like this.
In her dreams, she was brave. She spoke perfectly. She made Celeste look at every year stolen from her and understand the cost.
In real life, her knees hurt, her sleeve was wet, and she could barely breathe under the weight of so many eyes.
Julian felt her hand tighten.
"You do not have to speak," he said.
Margaret looked at Celeste.
Then she looked at Richard.
The man she had loved once looked older than his betrayal.
"I stayed because he told me leaving would ruin you," Margaret said to Julian. "He said the custody fight would become a scandal. He said people would use you as a weapon."
Julian's face tightened.
"And I believed him because I loved you more than I hated them."
No one laughed now.
Even the guests who had enjoyed her humiliation looked down at their glasses as if champagne had become evidence.
Celeste tried to speak, but Margaret raised one hand.
Not loudly.
Enough.
"You made me invisible," Margaret said. "But you never made me less than his mother."