“It was a bad joke.”
“No,” I said. “It was a test.”
Margaret folded her arms. “A test of what?”
“To see whether I would keep allowing you to mistake restraint for weakness.”
I walked out without shouting.
Inside my car, my hands finally began to shake. I sent the unedited video to my father.
He called within seconds.
“Are you and June safe?”
“Yes.”
“Send me everything,” he said. “Do not contact Margaret tonight.”
The next morning, Wesley arrived home pale and exhausted.
“My father ordered the entire family back to the estate at noon,” he said. “He said attendance is mandatory.”
I stared at him.
Then he swallowed hard.
“Your father will be there too—and he’s bringing people with him.”
When the Colonel Came to the Estate
