Chapter 18 - THE FIVE SECONDSDorian watched the recovered video alone.
He paused on Arielle’s face.
She looked annoyed.
Controlled.
Then Cambria looked toward him.
Dropped.
Dorian entered frame seconds later in another angle.
He watched himself.
Running.
Not asking.
Not looking at Arielle.
His hand rising.
Strike.
Arielle turning.
The video had no dramatic soundtrack.
No music.
That made it worse.
Just a man slapping his wife in front of people because he thought his anger was evidence.
Dorian vomited afterward.
Not metaphorically.
He barely reached the bathroom.
When he recovered, he drove to Evelyn’s house.
His mother opened the door.
He held up the tablet.
“Watch.”
She did.
Her face remained controlled.
Then Dorian showed Kendra’s statement.
Evelyn’s control cracked.
“You spoke to Kendra?”
“Arielle did.”
“She is lying.”
“Why?”
“Money.”
“You fired her.”
Evelyn said nothing.
Dorian stared.
“How much of this did you plan?”
“I never told you to strike Arielle.”
“That is not what I asked.”
Evelyn’s eyes hardened.
“I wanted you to see who your wife was.”
“But the woman you showed me wasn't real.”
Evelyn looked away.
Dorian understood.
“You knew Cambria would stage something.”
Silence.
“Mom.”
Evelyn finally said:
“I knew she intended to provoke Arielle.”
“Provoke?”
“She said Arielle would show her true nature.”
“She showed yours.”
Evelyn slapped the tablet onto the table.
“Do not speak to me like that.”
Dorian laughed bitterly.
“For thirty-five years everyone did what you wanted because anger from you felt like consequence.”
Evelyn stared.
Dorian whispered:
May you like
“I became you that night.”
And for the first time in his life, he looked ashamed to be Evelyn Westbrook’s son.
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