Chapter 7 - The CollapseThe silence in the room was heavy enough to crush bones.
“You can’t do this to us, Claire!” Natalie shrieked, jumping out of her chair and pointing an accusatory finger at me. “What about my children?! What about our standing in Greenwich?! If Dad goes to prison or loses everything, my husband’s family will disown us!”
I looked at my older sister. I remembered how she had stood by the dining room table on Thanksgiving, laughing while I washed grease off the pans.
“You didn't care about my standing when I was working sixty hours a week to pay off Ryan’s fraud, Natalie,” I said softly. “You didn't care about my future when Mom gave you my college fund for your wedding dress.”
“Claire, please!” my mother dropped to her knees right there in the conference room, tears ruining her expensive makeup. She reached across the carpet to grab the hem of my dress. “I am your mother! I carried you! You can’t leave us with nothing!”
I looked down at her. For my entire life, I had craved her affection. I had worked myself to exhaustion just to hear her say she was proud of me. But looking at her now, kneeling on the carpet, I realized she didn't love me—she only loved what I could provide for her ego.
“You weren't a mother to me, Margaret,” I said, my voice steady and free of anger. “You were a warden. And I’m signing my own release.”
Thomas’s hands shook so violently he could barely hold the pen. He looked at his son, whose arrogant swagger had completely vanished, leaving behind a terrified boy facing prison.
With a heavy, broken sigh, Thomas signed the surrender documents.
May you like
He pushed the papers across the table. “Take it,” he whispered, his eyes hollow. “Take everything.”
“I’m not taking everything, Thomas,” I said, picking up the signed master agreement. “I’m taking what was mine. The rest goes to the workers you tried to rob.”
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