He would only stop bending them.

And it would prove more than enough, because a company held upright entirely by another company’s courtesy discovers, the moment the courtesy ends, exactly how little it was ever standing on its own.

There is something worth pausing on in Robert’s choice, because it is the quiet center of the whole story, and it is easy to miss under the drama of a family’s downfall.

Robert Whitmore had, that morning, the power to destroy the Caldwells utterly, and by any means he chose.