Chapter 3 - THE EXILE
Arthur didn't answer with words.
He stood up slowly, towering over his mother. His broad shoulders blocked out the nursery light, casting a massive shadow over Eleanor.
Eleanor took a involuntary step back, her cold green eyes flickering with the first real tremor of fear as she realized her authority meant nothing against the wall of fatherly instinct standing before her.
Arthur walked toward her. He didn't touch her. He simply stepped into her space until she was forced to retreat out of the nursery doorway, step by step, into the hallway.
"Arthur—"
Arthur reached out, grabbed Eleanor’s heavy designer coat hanging near the banister, and hurled it down the stairs. He marched to her bedroom in the guest wing, swept her leather bags off the bed, and tossed them after her coat.
"Arthur, you are making a catastrophic mistake!" Eleanor shrieked from the top of the stairs, her voice echoing through the silent house. "You cannot survive without the Pendelton backing! Your firm’s major contracts are tied to my board!"
Arthur grabbed the brass handle of the heavy oak front door on the ground floor, threw it wide open to the cold autumn rain outside, and grabbed Eleanor’s arm just above the elbow.
He didn't hurt her, but his grip was iron. He marched her out onto the covered porch, tossing her suitcases into the wet driveway.
"If you ever step foot on this property again," Arthur said, his voice flat, emotionless, and smooth as steel, "I will have you arrested for aggravated assault and child endangerment."
May you like
"I am your mother!" Eleanor screamed into the rain, water instantly ruining her silk blouse. "She is a nobody! You will crawl back to me on your knees when the banks freeze your accounts!"
Arthur didn't give her another second of his life. He slammed the heavy oak door shut, locked the deadbolt, and threw the secondary security latch into place.
