Chapter 6 - Kneeling in the Rain
A torrential downpour hit Manhattan the following night. Water gushed through the gutters of Fifth Avenue as heavy lightning illuminated the dark skyscrapers.
I exited the private elevator of my residential building, escorted by Nathan and two bodyguards holding oversized black umbrellas. As we walked toward my armored Maybach, a figure suddenly burst from behind a parked vehicle and threw himself into the dirty rainwater right in front of my feet.
It was Everett.
His suit was soaked through, torn at the sleeves, and covered in street mud. He had no shoes on, his socks drenched and filthy. His hands were scraped and bleeding, his face sunken, pale, and desperate.
"Claire! Please!" he screamed over the roaring thunder, clutching my ankle with trembling hands. "Please don't walk away! Look at me!"
The bodyguards immediately moved forward to tackle him, but I raised my hand, stopping them. I looked down at the man who had once stood so tall and proud, the man who had called me a "barren leech" in front of the world.
"You look wet, Everett," I said casually, my umbrella keeping every drop of rain off my face.
"Claire, I have nothing left!" he sobbed, his voice cracking violently as water poured down his nose and cheeks. "The bank seized my car today! My mother was arrested an hour ago for conspiracy! The police are issuing an arrest warrant for me tomorrow morning for corporate tax fraud! I have nowhere to go! I haven't eaten in thirty-six hours!"
He bowed his head down until his forehead touched the freezing, dirty puddles on the pavement, kissing the leather of my high heels.
"I was wrong! I was a fool! You were the best thing that ever happened to me!" he wept uncontrollably. "I’ll be your servant! I’ll clean your house! Just please... stop the lawyers! Don't send me to prison!"
I looked down at him without a single trace of emotion in my heart. No anger. No sadness. Just pure, absolute emptiness.
"Do you remember what you said to me when you threw your wedding ring at my feet, Everett?" I asked softly.
He shivered violently, unable to answer.
"'A useless woman like you should be begging for our mercy,'" I quoted his own mother's words back to him. "You thought mercy was something you granted to the weak. But mercy isn't free, Everett. It has to be deserved."
"I’ll do anything! Anything!" he begged, looking up with bloodshot, hopeless eyes.
May you like
"Then do your time in prison," I replied coldly. "And learn how to be a human being."
I stepped back, pulling my ankle from his weak grip, and entered the warm, leather interior of my Maybach. As the door clicked shut, sealing out the sound of his hysterical wailing, the driver pulled away into the storm, leaving Everett lying flat in the muddy rain.
