Chapter 2 - Caroline’s Garden
Lunch lasted twenty-seven minutes before Conrad wanted to leave.
The long garden table looked like something from a magazine.
White linen.
Silver flatware.
Crystal glasses.
Flowers arranged in antique bowls.
Every detail was perfect.
Every conversation was false.
Agatha sat at the head of the table.
Julian sat at her right.
Conrad and Elliot were placed halfway down, as though their position had been calculated to remind everyone where they ranked.
Conrad barely ate.
Elliot whispered questions about relatives he did not remember.
Conrad answered quietly.
Then Agatha stood.
The table fell silent.
“My father built the Hayes fortune from nothing,” she began.
Conrad stared at his water glass.
He had heard this speech in different forms since childhood.
“Everything we possess exists because each generation understood its responsibility to the next.”
Julian nodded solemnly.
Conrad almost rolled his eyes.
Agatha continued.
“For too long, our family has confused freedom with abandonment.”
There it was.
Conrad looked up.
Agatha met his eyes.
“Today we correct that mistake.”
Nathan Bell stood several feet behind her holding a leather folder.
He looked miserable.
Agatha extended her hand.
Nathan did not immediately move.
“Nathan.”
He gave her the folder.
Agatha removed several papers.
“The Hayes Family Trust currently names my sons, Julian and Conrad, as equal future beneficiaries.”
Murmurs moved around the table.
Conrad already knew that.
The trust controlled real estate, investments, and several operating companies worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Conrad had never depended on it.
He had built his own architecture firm years ago partly to escape its influence.
Agatha continued.
“I have proposed an amendment.”
Nathan’s jaw tightened.
“Proposed,” he repeated.
Agatha looked annoyed.
“Yes.”
She turned back toward the table.
“Under the amendment, any beneficiary who deliberately separates his child from the Hayes family for more than one year may lose controlling rights.”
Conrad laughed.
He could not help it.
Agatha stared at him.
“You think that’s funny?”
“I think it’s transparent.”
“You removed Elliot from this family.”
“I protected Elliot from this family.”
Several guests looked away.
Julian leaned back in his chair.
“Protected him from birthday presents and private schools?”
“From people who think money gives them permission to own everyone around them.”
Agatha’s face sharpened.
“Caroline filled your head with that nonsense.”
Conrad stood.
“Don’t.”
Elliot looked up at him.
Agatha noticed.
Her voice became sweeter.
“Your mother was troubled, Elliot.”
Conrad’s chair scraped violently against the stone.
“That’s enough.”
Elliot’s eyes filled with confusion.
“Mom was troubled?”
“No,” Conrad said.
Agatha continued anyway.
“She was unhappy here.”
“Mother.”
“She often imagined enemies where none existed.”
Conrad stepped around the table.
Julian stood too.
Nathan moved between them.
“Everyone stop.”
For the first time that afternoon, Agatha looked pleased.
She had achieved exactly what she wanted.
Conrad had become the emotional one.
The unstable one.
The difficult son.
The role she had assigned him decades ago.
Conrad recognized the trap.
He sat back down.
“We’re leaving after lunch.”
Agatha’s smile vanished.
“The announcement isn’t finished.”
“It is for us.”
Elliot touched Conrad’s sleeve.
“Dad, can I use the bathroom?”
Conrad looked toward the house.
“I’ll take you.”
“I know where it is. Grandma showed me.”
Agatha nodded.
“Down the west hall.”
Conrad hesitated.
Elliot gave him the embarrassed expression seven-year-olds used when they were being treated like toddlers.
“I can go.”
Conrad checked the hallway entrance.
It was less than thirty yards away.
“Straight there and straight back.”
“Okay.”
Elliot hurried inside.
Conrad watched until he disappeared.
Then Nathan leaned closer.
“You shouldn’t sign anything today.”
“I wasn’t planning to.”
“No matter what happens.”
Conrad studied him.
“What exactly do you know?”
Nathan looked toward Agatha.
“Not enough.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“It’s the only one I can give you here.”
Julian approached.
“Nathan, Mother needs you.”
Nathan walked away.
Julian took his chair.
“You always did enjoy making scenes.”
“Whereas you prefer making threats when nobody is listening.”
Julian smiled.
“You should consider the amendment.”
“Why?”
“Because Mother isn’t bluffing.”
“I don’t care about the trust.”
“Maybe not.”
Julian glanced toward the mansion.
“But Elliot will someday.”
Conrad leaned forward.
“Leave my son out of this.”
“He is already in it.”
The words sat between them.
Conrad stood.
He had suddenly realized Elliot had been gone too long.
Inside the mansion, the west hall was empty.
The bathroom door stood open.
No Elliot.
“Elliot?”
Nothing.
Conrad checked the library.
The drawing room.
The small breakfast room.
Empty.
His heartbeat accelerated.
He returned outside.
“Have you seen Elliot?”
Agatha frowned.
“I thought he was with you.”
Julian looked toward the greenhouse.
It lasted less than a second.
But Conrad saw it.
He began walking toward the garden path.
Julian moved into his way.
“He’s probably playing.”
“Move.”
“Conrad.”
“Move.”
Agatha followed.
“What is happening?”
Conrad shoved past Julian.
Near the trellis, he saw Elliot’s missing sneaker.
It lay beside the path.
Then he heard crying.
Faint.
Muffled.
From behind the roses.
May you like
Conrad ran.
And found his son chained to the pillar.
