THE TOWERS FAMILY SAGA
        EPISODE 14
Monday morning arrived with
the cold precision of a
court date. James stood
outside the glass doors of
Turquoise Software,
adjusting his tie for the
tenth time. He wasn't
escorted to the executive
suite; instead, a young
manager led him to a
cubicle in the back of the
analytics department.
"Robert said you were
hungry for a start," the
manager said, handing him
a stack of data entry
logs. "This is where the
hunger gets fed." James
sat down, the hum of the
server room sounding like
a low growl. He realized
then that Robert hadn't
given him a job; he had
given him a test of
endurance. At the same
hour, Dorothy found Minnie
in the estate's
greenhouse. The usual
vibrance of the flowers
seemed dimmed by the
gray sky. "I'm moving
out too, Mom," Dorothy
said softly. "I found a
place near the clinic. It's
small, but it's mine."
Minnie didn't look up from
the orchid she was
trimming. "Is this the
radical honesty, then?
Everyone leaving until
the house is just a
museum?" Dorothy stepped
closer, taking the shears
from her mother,s hand.
"It's not leaving you,
Mom. It’s leaving the
act. We can't be a
family if we're only
together because of the
walls you built." In
the city, Barbara was
sitting on a workbench
at the garage, watching
Tyler finish a brake
job. Her phone buzzed—a
text from Virginia. The
electricity is in our
name now. It felt like
winning the lottery.
Barbara smiled, but she
looked at the grease
under her own fingernails
and felt a pang of
uncertainty. The truth
was freeing, but it
was also exhausting. As
the sun set, Robert
walked through the
quiet halls of his
empire, stopping at the
main display in the
lobby. He looked at
the portrait of the
family, all of them
smiling and perfect.
He realized that the
picture was the only
thing left that wasn't
cracked. The radical
honesty had stripped
away the paint, and
now he had to decide
if he liked the
canvas underneath.

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