Chapter 6 - THE FINAL JUDGMENTI walked slowly toward my father, my heels clicking against the ruined white frosting on the floor.
The room had emptied of all its false glamour. The champagne fountains were bubbling quietly in the background, but the champagne had turned sour. The elite guests had either fled or huddled against the walls like frightened sheep, desperate not to be associated with the falling empire.
Alden raised his head. His eyes, once filled with arrogant disdain, were now wet, bloodshot, and hollow.
“Maren…” he whispered, his voice cracking pathetically. “Please… we’re family. Twenty-one years… you’re my blood.”
I stopped inches away from him. I looked down at the man who had thrown me out into the rain with two suitcases and a curse, telling me I would amount to nothing.
“Twenty-one years ago,” I said softly, ensuring every word cut like glass, “you told me to walk out that door and become nothing. You told me the world would show me my worth.”
Alden shook his head frantically, tears spilling down his wrinkled cheeks. “I was wrong… I was a fool…”
“You were right about one thing, Alden,” I continued, my voice steady and unyielding. “The world did show me my worth. It taught me discipline, honor, leadership, and the difference between true strength and pathetic, hollow tyranny. But it also taught me something else.”
I leaned in close, whispering directly into his ear.
“A name means nothing if the man behind it has no soul.”
May you like
The federal agents stepped forward, gently but firmly placing cold steel handcuffs around Griffin’s wrists first, as he sobbed hysterically, screaming about his lawyers and his money. Then, two agents stepped toward Alden.
My father didn’t fight back. He allowed the cuffs to be locked around his wrists, his head hanging low in utter defeat as they led him away past the shattered cake and the wilted white roses.
