Chapter 301: Breaking away [2]
"All that I did was in the best interest of you two. I tried to place you in positions where you would be better off than you are now, but did anyone thank me for it? If you had listened to me, you would have been living well right now," Agatha said, her voice trembling with a mixture of bitterness and wounded pride.
Reece shook his head slowly. "There’s no use for you, mother. You’re so far wrapped up in chasing money that you don’t think about what we truly want. I love my wife, and no amount of wealth is going to take me away from her."
He continued, "For other people, there’s more to life than seeking money and status. We want to marry someone we love and spend the rest of our lives with them. Even if I have to spend my life working to provide, I will choose that over the hollow comfort of riches you wish for me."
Agatha’s lips pressed into a thin line. The silence between them was heavy.
"I wanted my child to have a chance to meet their grandparent," Reece said, his voice softening. "But I can’t bring you around since you won’t care for them. I love you, and I always will, but you force me to choose, and unfortunately, you won’t be the one picked."
Reece’s words hurt Agatha, but she masked it quickly with anger.
Reece took a deep breath. "You forced my hand to cut you out of my life completely. I don’t want anyone who drags down the happiness I feel. I can’t have it now because I’m the happiest I’ve ever been. And I won’t let you anywhere near Iris either."
Agatha’s eyes held fury. "You two are not cutting me off. It is what I am doing to you. Children are meant to listen and follow their parents. Your father worked tirelessly to provide for you both, and when I needed your help to save our home, you were nowhere to be found."
Agatha rose from the bed, her hand twitching as though itching to strike him. "I took special care of you. I made sure you were dressed better than all your peers, more educated than any of them. And then you turned around and married a woman beneath you."
"Watch it," Reece warned, stepping forward, his voice low and dangerous.
Agatha felt a twisted satisfaction. "Or what? Will you hit me? Go on, then. Show just how disrespectful you’ve become. Take out all the anger you hold because of who you married."
Reece stormed over and seized her shoulders. His grip was firm but not cruel. "I love my wife. You should be proud of the man you raised. I found love and settled down. I care for my family."
Agatha stepped back as though she believed he might truly harm her. "You could have done better. Both you and Iris could have. I don’t want to live like this, hiding away in a room."
Reece’s voice rose. "No one told you to burn the home! No one told you to support what my father did. No one told you to pit your daughter against her cousin. The state of your life is the result of your own actions. You have only yourself to blame."
Reece stepped back, his chest heaving. "Eloise and Iris never needed to compete. You tried to turn them against each other, but they loved each other too much for it to matter. Why couldn’t you just stay normal? Why did you have to poison everything?"
Reece raked his fingers through his hair. If he kept this up, he’d be bald before he returned to his family.
"Stay true to your word that Iris is no longer your daughter. If you truly want the best for her, as you claim, then stay away. Don’t approach her in the future when her life goes well. Just disappear," he said, the words painful to say. "Disappear and think only of yourself."
Agatha’s cold tone slipped for a moment. "I don’t have any more money to survive by myself."
Reece believed it. He knew that if Agatha had enough money, she would have left town long ago, forgotten her children, and lived only for herself.
"Don’t you dare think of asking me for money," Reece said, not falling for her plot. "If I enable you, you’ll keep coming back. I’m not going to provide for you, and neither will Iris. You must work, just like the rest of us."
Agatha’s eyes darted to his hands, searching for coins. "For all that I did for you, can’t you help me now? You have money."
"I don’t have it anymore," Reece replied, glad he left it behind. "You forget that I came back here to help you, but you were stuck in your ways. You have to find a way for yourself. Once you stop blaming everyone else for what happened, you’ll be fine."
He turned his back on her. "I’ve seen that you are well enough, so I don’t need to worry about you anymore. More importantly, I see that you are stuck in your old ways. I’m thankful I wasn’t spoiled by you so that I didn’t become a man who would steal from his family and worship money."
The thought chilled him. He hated to imagine what his life might have been if he had become like his parents, poisoning Iris’s life with their greed and cruelty.
Reece placed his hand on the doorknob, pausing. He looked back at Agatha. "I’ve been sending you money from the moment I started working. I’ve done my part to repay you for how you cared for me. I don’t have to do it any longer."
"If I ever hear that you’ve gone to Iris and troubled her, I will come for you and drag you out of this town. If you continue to be stubborn, I will be forced to let Lord Hawthorne deal with you," Reece warned Agatha.
Reece didn’t want to lose both parents, but Iris’s well-being mattered more. He loved Agatha, but he loved Iris even more. He wanted her free from their mother.
If Iris were truly to marry a wealthy man, Agatha would only come to take, to drain her happiness as she had drained everyone else’s.
"You!" Agatha gasped. She was stunned by the lengths her son was willing to go to cut her out.
Reece’s eyes softened, though his voice remained firm. "Goodbye, Mother," he said, stepping out of the room.
The door closed behind him, and he lingered for a moment in the corridor, his hand pressed against the wood. He hoped that this would be the last time he ever saw Agatha.