Chapter 2 - The Confrontation
When I finally unlocked the door and stepped out, the apartment was completely quiet except for the rhythmic white noise machine humming softly from the nursery. Elodie wasn’t in her bassinet in the living room. Panic flared in my chest for a second until I saw Arthur sitting in the armchair near the nursery door, holding my daughter against his chest with practiced, tender ease. He was patting her back gently, humming an old melody, and she was fast asleep, swaddled in a clean blanket.
Caleb was sitting stiffly at the dining table. His laptop was closed, his arms were crossed over his chest, and he was glaring at the floor like a petulant teenager who had just been grounded.
""Elodie took four ounces of pumped milk and burped twice,"" Arthur said in a quiet, comforting rumble as he saw me approach. ""She’s a sweet girl. Looks just like her mama.""
""Thank you, Arthur,"" I whispered, pulling my cardigan tighter around myself. I hadn’t felt clean like this in over a month.
""Sit down, Tessa,"" Arthur commanded gently, gesturing to the chair opposite Caleb. ""The three of us need to have a serious conversation about the way this household is being run.""
Caleb scoffed loudly. ""Dad, this is ridiculous. You don't live here. You don't see the monthly statements. I run an analytics consulting firm, and efficiency is how businesses survive. Tessa was wasting twenty minutes in the bathroom every morning while Elodie cried her lungs out!""
""She took eight minutes, Caleb!"" I snapped, my voice shaking with pent-up rage. ""I took eight minutes to wash spit-up out of my hair! You wouldn’t even hold your own daughter for five minutes without screaming through the door that she needed me!""
""Because she has the equipment to feed her, and I don't!"" Caleb yelled back. ""You’re on maternity leave! That means child care is your full-time job! My job brings in the money that pays for this condo, the groceries, and your endless water consumption!""
""Enough!"" Arthur’s voice cracked through the room like a whip. He stood up slowly, cradling Elodie with incredible care, and placed her gently into her crib in the nursery. He closed the door until it was nearly latched, then walked back to the dining table and leaned over Caleb, placing both hands flat on the polished wood.
""You think your consulting business pays for this condo, Caleb?"" Arthur asked, his voice chillingly calm.
Caleb blinked, taken aback. ""Of course it does. I pay the mortgage every month.""
""You pay the subsidized interest on a loan that I co-signed and funded through my holding company,"" Arthur replied, his eyes narrowing. ""You drive an SUV that is leased under my corporate account. The health insurance covering your wife and daughter right now is paid by my company. You sit here playing big businessman, nickel-and-diming the mother of your child over pennies worth of hot water, pretending you bought this kingdom yourself.""
Caleb's face lost all its color. ""That has nothing to do with this! A budget is a budget!""
""A budget is a tool, not a weapon,"" Arthur growled. ""You put a four-minute timer on your wife's hygiene while you spend two hundred dollars on golf green fees every Saturday morning? You cut off her water while you leave the server running in your office all night to mine crypto?""
I stared at Caleb in disbelief. ""You spent two hundred dollars on golf last weekend? When you told me we couldn't afford the diaper delivery service?""
Caleb looked away, his jaw clenched, unable to meet my eyes.
""You have forgotten where you came from, son,"" Arthur said coldly. ""Your mother died when you were young, but she taught me one thing: a man who starves his wife of comfort and dignity is no man at all. You think being a mother is a vacation? You think staying home with an infant is easy? Starting tomorrow, Caleb, we are going to test your theory.""
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""What are you talking about?"" Caleb asked, a tremor of real anxiety breaking through his defensive posture.
""You're going to take paternity leave,"" Arthur said with a savage, knowing smirk. ""And you are going to live entirely by the rules you set for Tessa.""
