Chapter 6 - The Desperate Plea“I was wrong, Vivienne,” Daniel sobbed, dropping to his knees beside my chair right in front of the board members. “I was a coward! I was terrified of my mother my whole life! I thought if I just went along with her, she’d leave us alone once the baby was born!”
“A real man protects his wife from his mother,” my father said, his voice echoing off the glass walls. “A real man doesn't hand over his pregnant wife's purse so his sister can humiliate her in public.”
“I’ll change!” Daniel begged, clutching his hands together. “I’ll cut them off! I’ll never speak to my mother or Chloe again! Just please don't take my family away from me! Don't ruin my father’s company!”
Richard leaned forward, his voice cracking with desperation. “Arthur, if you call in those loans today, Montgomery Enterprises goes into involuntary bankruptcy by Friday. Three hundred workers will lose their jobs! My entire life's work will be wiped out!”
My father leaned back in his leather chair, crossing his hands over his knee.
“You should have thought about your life’s work,” my father said quietly, “before your wife dragged my daughter across a marble floor and tore her clothes off.”
“We will offer a public apology!” Richard offered frantically. “A press conference! Eleanor and Chloe will issue a recorded video statement admitting they lied! We will pay any damages you want!”
I stood up slowly, holding my lower back for support. The room fell completely silent as everyone turned to look at me.
“It’s too late for apologies, Richard,” I said, my voice remarkably steady. “For three years, I tried to be a good daughter-in-law. I cooked for your family dinners, I listened to Eleanor’s insults, I let Chloe talk down to me, and I forgave Daniel every time he stood there and said nothing.”
I turned my gaze to Daniel, who was weeping silently at my feet.
“I thought I was teaching you how to be patient, Daniel,” I whispered. “But I was actually teaching you how to treat me like trash. And last night, you showed me exactly who you are.”
I turned back to Sarah Jenkins. “Sarah, proceed with the foreclosure on the Montgomery estate in Aspen, execute the acceleration clause on their corporate debt, and file the emergency petition for sole legal and physical custody of my child.”
Daniel gasped, clutching his chest as if he’d been shot. “Sole custody?! Vivienne, no! It’s my child too!”
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“A child needs a father who has a backbone,” I said coldly. “You can file for supervised visitation after you grow one.”
My father stood up, buttoning his suit jacket. “Security, show these gentlemen out.”
