Chapter 8 - The Collapse of the Alliance
The heavy silence that settled over the office after Cassandra’s departure was suffocating.
Michael stood frozen by his desk, staring blankly at the door through which his bride had just fled. The woman he had betrayed his mother for, the woman he had committed assault for, had abandoned him the moment financial ruin and public shame stared her in the face.
Slowly, Michael turned his head back toward the screen. The footage was still looping. Ellen was still hitting the floor.
His knees buckled. The arrogant, untouchable golden boy collapsed onto the plush office carpet, burying his face in his hands, and began to sob with ragged, gut-wrenching despair.
“Dad…” he whimpered, his voice cracking into a pathetic, broken whisper. “Dad, I’m sorry… I don’t know what happened… she got into my head, she changed me, I was blind… please, Dad, help me…”
I looked down at my son. There was no joy in my victory—only a profound, hollow exhaustion.
“You broke your mother’s body, Michael,” I said, my voice dangerously quiet. “And you broke her heart. You chose a parasite over the people who loved you unconditionally from the day you were born.”
“I’ll apologize to Mom!” Michael cried, crawling forward on his hands and knees like a supplicant. “I’ll beg her for forgiveness! I’ll do anything!”
“Listen to me very carefully,” I said, looking down at him as if he were a stranger on the street. “As of today, your law firm’s line of credit is frozen. The commercial property title remains in my name and is being transferred to a charitable trust. Your car leases are being repossessed by morning. You are legally, financially, and personally on your own.”
Michael looked up, his eyes wide with absolute horror. “Dad, you can’t do that! I’ll be ruined! I have debts, I have loans—”
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“Then figure it out,” I replied coldly. “Like an adult.”
I turned, unplugged my phone from the display adapter, slipped the USB drive back into my pocket, and walked out of the office without looking back.
