Chapter 6 - The Broken Lion
A month after the acquisition, Franklin requested a private meeting with Maris. He didn't ask her to come to the family home; he knew he no longer owned it. He came to her office.
He didn't wear his usual cowboy boots and heavy leather jacket. He wore a simple button-down shirt that looked slightly too big for him now. He sat across from her desk, looking like a broken lion.
"You won," Franklin said, his voice rough. "You took everything."
"I didn't take anything you didn't give away to the banks through bad judgment, Dad," Maris replied, her tone professional, devoid of the anger that used to consume her.
Franklin looked down at his rough hands. "I was hard on you because I didn't understand you. You were always quiet. Always reading, always typing on that machine. Your brothers... I knew how to talk to them. I knew sports, I knew trucks."
"That's an excuse for neglect, not an explanation," Maris said firmly. "Being different shouldn't make a child invisible. And it certainly shouldn't make them a disgrace."
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Franklin closed his eyes, a heavy sigh escaping his chest. "I'm sorry, Maris. I'm sorry I didn't see what you were. I'm sorry I let them treat you like that."
Maris looked at him. For years, she had dreamed of hearing those words. Now that they were here, she realized she didn't need them to feel whole anymore. She had already built her own validation. But seeing his genuine defeat, the icy knot in her heart began to thaw just a fraction.
