The screen went black.
The room fell silent.
Madison stared at him.
“What the hell?”
Ethan turned.
His face was calm.
That frightened Diane before he said a word.
“Everyone sit up.”
Vanessa frowned.
“Excuse me?”
“Sit. Up.”
Something in his voice made all three sisters move.
Diane placed her smoothie on the table.
“Ethan, you’re exhausted.”
He looked at her.
“I asked Olivia how long she’s been cleaning up after all of you.”
Nobody spoke.
Courtney rolled her eyes first.
“Oh my God. Is this seriously about dishes?”
Ethan turned toward her.
“Three months.”
Courtney’s expression shifted.
“Ethan—”
“She’s eight months pregnant.”
“We never forced her.”
Vanessa jumped in quickly.
“She offered.”
“No, she didn’t.”
“You weren’t here.”
“That’s exactly the problem.”
Diane sat forward.
“Watch your tone.”
Ethan almost laughed.
“My tone?”
“I’m your mother.”
“And Olivia is my wife.”
Diane’s mouth hardened.
“No one mistreated her. I taught her how a household works. You’re gone all day. She sits here while everyone else has responsibilities.”
“She works remotely.”
“Three little hours doing graphic design from a laptop is not work.”
Ethan looked around the room.
“What did any of you do today?”
Madison looked offended.
“I went to the mall.”
“Using whose card?”
Silence.
“Vanessa?”
“I had an interview.”
“You told me yesterday it was canceled.”
Vanessa’s cheeks flushed.
“Courtney?”
“I had schoolwork.”
“Your semester doesn’t begin until next Monday.”
Courtney folded her arms.
Diane exhaled sharply.
“This interrogation is ridiculous.”
“No.”
Ethan’s voice changed.
“This is overdue.”
His mother stood.
“Your wife is turning you against your family.”
There it was.
A sentence Olivia had probably heard in different forms for months.
Ethan stared at Diane.
Then said quietly, “My wife did not say one bad thing about any of you downstairs.”
Diane stopped.
“She defended you.”
That silenced the room.
“She explained why you were tired. Why you were stressed. Why you needed help. She stood there with cracked hands and defended the people who put her there.”
Ethan’s eyes moved across his sisters.
“You know what that tells me?”
Nobody answered.
“It tells me she’s been afraid for so long she thinks your cruelty is something she needs to justify.”
Madison’s eyes filled.
“Cruelty? Come on.”
Ethan took out his wallet.
He removed four credit cards.
One by one.
He placed them on the coffee table.
Vanessa stared.
“What are you doing?”
“Changing the arrangement.”
“What arrangement?”
“The one where I work seventy hours a week and finance four adults who treat my pregnant wife like hired help.”
Diane’s face went cold.
“You wouldn’t have this career without the sacrifices I made raising you.”
“I know what you sacrificed.”
