The Right Thing to Do

Delphinia stood in the middle of her father's study, her hands clenched into fists at her sides. The air was thick with tension, the scent of aged wood and expensive cologne doing nothing to mask the suffocating weight of betrayal she felt. Robert Harrington, seated behind his grand mahogany desk, stared at her in stunned silence.

"You lied to me," Delphinia's voice was sharp, cutting through the heavy silence like a blade. "All these years, you let me believe that my mother's death was my fault. But it wasn't, was it?" Her lips curled in disdain. "It was because of your infidelity."

Robert blinked, a slight frown knitting his brow as he sat back in his chair. His eyes were wide, as if Delphinia had just spoken a language he didn't understand, but she could see the tension in his jaw, the way his fingers tightened around the armrests of his chair. It was the first time in years that she had seen him visibly rattled, but his response was slow, almost deliberate.