Chapter 6 - The Shattered Empire
"Lies!" Cynthia shrieked, breaking the frozen silence as she lunged forward, her face twisted in pure, unadulterated venom. "She’s lying! She’s barren! That’s why you dumped her outside like trash, Raymond! Tell them she’s making it up!"
Raymond looked like a man standing before a firing squad. He looked at my stomach, then back at my face, every color draining from his skin as the terrible, crushing reality set in. He knew my medical history—or at least, the one his mother had fed him. But he also knew the look in my eyes.
"Clara..." Raymond choked out, taking a desperate step toward me. "Please... we can talk about this. At home. In private."
"Home?" I raised an eyebrow, letting out a cold, humorless laugh. "You mean the Greenwich estate? The one currently being foreclosed on by Sterling Holdings?"
Arthur stepped up, pulling a thick manila folder from his inner jacket pocket and tossing it carelessly onto the champagne table right in front of Raymond.
"Effective midnight," Arthur announced casually, "Whitmore Logistics is officially dissolved. Your corporate accounts are frozen, your personal assets are seized under RICO violations for corporate fraud, and this country club? I bought the mortgage this morning. You have twenty-four hours to vacate the premises, Raymond. All of you."
May you like
Margaret let out a sharp, breathless gasp and clutched her pearls, her knees buckling beneath her. She would have hit the floor if a waiter hadn't caught her.
Cynthia stared at the manila folder in sheer horror, realization dawning that the man she had latched onto was not a wealthy prince, but a bankrupt pauper about to be thrown into the gutter. Without a single word, Cynthia ripped her engagement ring off her finger, threw it directly into Raymond’s face, and stormed out of the ballroom in tears.
