Chương 15 - The Breaking Point
Back in the suburbs, the Carter family was enduring its coldest winter in years. With the heating bill overdue, Ethan, Helen, and Olivia were huddled in the living room wearing heavy woolen coats indoors, the air visible in white puffs with every breath.
Olivia was pacing frantically across the threadbare rug, her phone clutched in her hand like a lifeline. "I don't understand why none of my old friends are answering my texts! I invited six people to my birthday dinner last weekend, and not a single one showed up!"
"Because you have nothing left to offer them, Olivia," Ethan snapped from the kitchen corner, where he was trying to thaw a frozen microwave meal. "They weren't your friends; they were accessories to our lifestyle."
"Don't you dare talk to me like that!" Helen shrieked, slamming a ceramic mug onto the coffee table. "You're the man of this house! You're supposed to provide for your family! Look at us! We're living like beggars because you couldn't keep your wife happy!"
Ethan slammed the microwave door shut so hard the glass cracked. "Keep my wife happy?!" he roared, his voice echoing off the bare walls with a fury that had been building for months. "I spent five years letting you both treat Natalie like an unpaid servant! I let you mock her family, dismiss her feelings, and treat our home like your personal hotel! And when she needed me most—when her spine was literally being cut open—I chose Olivia's stupid rooftop birthday party because I was too weak to stand up to you!"
The room fell dead silent. Helen stared at him, her mouth agape, as if she were seeing a stranger.
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"And now?" Ethan laughed bitterly, his voice breaking as tears welled in his eyes. "She’s thriving. She’s traveling, she’s speaking at national conferences, and she owns everything while we sit here freezing in the dark. We did this to ourselves. We destroyed the only real thing we ever had."
Olivia burst into angry tears and stormed out of the room, slamming her bedroom door shut, leaving Ethan and Helen in a heavy, suffocating silence that felt like a permanent curse.
