Chapter 3 - The Family Council
Word of Teresa and Mason’s arrest spread through the extended Bradley family like a toxic wildfire.
Instead of showing remorse or shame, the Bradley clan—led by Connor’s elder aunt, Betsy, and uncle, Raymond—circle their wagons. To them, Connor was the "ungrateful son" who had put his own flesh and blood behind bars for the sake of an "outsider" wife.
On Tuesday evening, while Amy was upstairs putting Frederick to sleep in his freshly disinfected nursery, Connor’s doorbell rang continuously.
Connor looked at his phone’s security app. Standing on his front porch were Aunt Betsy, Uncle Raymond, and three of his adult cousins. They looked angry, loud, and entitled.
Connor walked to the front door, opened it, but remained standing squarely in the threshold, blocking the entrance with his six-foot-two, muscle-bound frame.
"Connor!" Aunt Betsy snapped, pulling her designer coat tighter around her. "Step aside! We need to talk about this insanity right now!"
"You're standing on private property, Betsy," Connor said flatly, his arms folded over his chest. "State your business from the porch."
Uncle Raymond stepped forward, pointing an angry, nicotine-stained finger at Connor’s face. "You listen to me, boy! Your mother is sitting in a county jail cell right now! She has high blood pressure! Mason’s career is completely ruined! How dare you call the police on your own mother over a little party dust-up?!"
Connor looked at Raymond, his eyes cold as ice. "A little party dust-up? Your wife sat at my patio table eating lobster while my wife was collapsing from exhaustion holding a sick baby with a hundred-and-two fever. You knew she had locked Amy’s phone away. You knew Mason was stealing my house deed."
"Amy is a dramatic little nobody!" Aunt Betsy yelled, raising her voice so loud the neighbors' porch lights flickered on. "She came from a trailer park in East Tennessee! You brought her into this family, and now she’s turning you against your own blood! A real man puts his mother first! Your mother raised you after your father died!"
"My mother stole one hundred and fifty thousand dollars from me," Connor said, his voice terrifyingly calm. "She forged my signature. She drained my son’s trust fund to pay for Mason’s Biloxi gambling debts and your precious lobster dinners."
Betsy flinched slightly, but her arrogance quickly recovered. "Family money is family money! We all help each other! You have plenty of money from your engineering job! You're being controlled by that manipulative little girl upstairs!"
Connor reached into his pocket, pulled out his phone, and tapped the screen.
"Do you hear that sound, Betsy?" Connor asked.
Betsy frowned. "What sound?"
"That’s the sound of my home security system recording every single word coming out of your mouth," Connor replied smoothly. "And that red cruiser pulling up behind your car is the Nashville Police Department responding to a active trespass warning."
Uncle Raymond turned his head sharply just as a police cruiser pulled into the driveway, its spotlight blinding the group on the porch.
"Mr. Bradley," the officer called out from his car. "Are these individuals bothering you?"
"They are trespassing after being served formal no-contact orders this morning, Officer," Connor stated clearly.
Aunt Betsy’s face turned bright red with fury. "You monster! You’re discarding your own family for her?!"
"Amy is my family," Connor said, stepping back into his hallway. "You are just people who share my last name. Get off my lawn before you join my mother in booking."
Connor slammed the heavy oak door shut, locking the deadbolts. Through the window, he watched as the police escorted his screeching aunt and uncle off his property.
When Connor walked upstairs, he found Amy standing at the top of the stairs, holding a warm cup of chamomile tea. Her eyes were wide, but for the first time in months, she wasn't cowering. She looked at Connor with deep, unwavering pride.
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"You defended me," she whispered softly.
Connor walked up the stairs, taking her into his arms, pulling her close against his beating chest. "I will defend you against the entire world, Amy. Every single day for the rest of my life."
