Chapter 2 - The Departure at Dawn
Clara did not pack suitcases. She knew that attempting to pack would invite security guards, estate managers, and endless bureaucratic entanglements that the Sterling family wielded like weapons. Instead, she took her worn canvas shoulder bag, five cloth diapers, two spare onesies for Leo, and her passport.
Henry stood in the center of the kitchen, his polished shoes planted on the herringbone hardwood, looking back and forth between his mother and his wife.
"Henry, if you walk out that door, you abandon your heritage," Eleanor said, her voice dropping into a rhythmic, chilling cadence. "The board meets on Friday. The family trust requires an unbroken chain of custody. You know what your father wrote into the bylaws. A man who cannot manage his domestic affairs cannot manage fifty million dollars of community philanthropy."
"I don't care about the bylaws, Mother," Henry whispered. It was the first time in his adult life he had uttered those words.
"You will when the credit cards are frozen," Eleanor replied, checking the diamond watch on her wrist. "You will by noon tomorrow."
Clara didn't wait to hear Henry's decision. She could not afford the luxury of witnessing a son's delayed rebellion. Cradling Leo with both arms, she pushed past Eleanor. The scent of Eleanor’s French lavender perfume made her stomach turn. Clara walked through the back scullery, through the heavy service entrance, and into the crisp morning fog rolling over the Westchester hills.
Behind her, footsteps pounded on the gravel path.
Clara spun around defensively, shielding Leo with her torso. But it wasn't the estate guards. It was Henry. He had his coat over his arm, his shirt untucked, his breath coming in ragged bursts. In his hand, he held Clara’s battered beat-up compact car keys, which Eleanor had confiscated two months prior and hidden in the study safe.
"I found them," Henry breathed, opening the passenger door of the decade-old hatchback parked by the groundskeeper’s shed. "Get in."
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"Henry, you don't have to do this to prove a point," Clara said, her voice shaking with adrenaline. "If you come, she will destroy you."
"She’s been destroying me since I was seven," Henry said quietly, clicking the child seat harness securely into place with hands that trembled. "I just didn't have the courage to bleed until I saw you doing it for our son."
