Chapter 14 - The Public HumiliationAs the security guards physically escorted Ethan out through the revolving glass doors onto the bustling Manhattan sidewalk, a black town car pulled up directly to the curb.
The rear door opened, and a familiar, elegant figure stepped out.
It was Vanessa Vance—the very woman who had abandoned Ethan the moment his company accounts were frozen. She was dressed in an immaculate winter-white coat, draped in designer fur, stepping out to attend a high-society charity gala hosted in the building.
Vanessa stopped dead in her tracks as she saw Ethan standing there, caught between two security guards in a cheap warehouse jacket.
Her eyes swept over him with cold, undisguised disgust.
"Ethan?" Vanessa scoffed, adjusting her diamond earrings. "Good grief. Are you panhandling outside corporate headquarters now? How utterly tragic."
Ethan’s face burned with a humiliating, fiery heat. "Vanessa... shut up."
"I heard you lost the penthouse, your cars, and your dignity," she continued, a cruel smile touching her lips. "I guess it’s true what they say—some men are born to climb, and others are just pretenders waiting for gravity to do its job. Glad I dodged that bullet."
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She turned her back on him without another word, gliding past the revolving doors into the warm, glittering lobby as the security guards finally released Ethan’s arms.
Left standing alone on the cold pavement, Ethan realized the absolute depth of his ruin. The society he had tried so desperately to conquer hadn't just rejected him; it was laughing at him.
