Chapter 4 - The House of Glass Collapses
Julian Sterling.
The name hit Nathan like a high-speed locomotive. Julian Sterling was not just a rival real estate developer; he was Nathan's fiercest business competitor, the man who had outbid North Pier Properties on three multi-million-dollar downtown developments.
Nathan had spent nine months bragging to his golf buddies that he had traded his loyal, hardworking wife for a younger, adoring woman who had given him the ultimate heir.
In reality, he had been paying the medical bills, rent, and luxury allowances for his worst enemy's bastard child.
"You whore," Nathan breathed, the words dripping with pure, unadulterated venom. "You disgusting, filthy whore."
"Nathan, I thought it was yours!" Vanessa wailed, reaching out with desperate, manicured hands. "The dates were so close! You have to believe me! I love you! We can still raise him together!"
"Raise Julian Sterling's son?!" Nathan screamed, his voice cracking into an unhinged, feral shriek that echoed down the hospital corridor. "I tore my family apart for you! I kicked my own flesh-and-blood children out of my life for this?!"
Patricia slumped back onto the couch, clutching her chest, gasping for breath as if she were having a heart attack.
"My God... the family name," Patricia wept, her proud aristocratic facade completely shredded. "The whole city will know. The country club, the board, the newspapers... we will be the laughingstock of Chicago!"
Nathan didn't look at his mother. He grabbed his coat from the chair, pulled out his phone, and frantically dialed my number.
"The subscriber you have called is currently unavailable or has their phone switched off. Please try again later."
"Answer the phone, Rebecca!" Nathan screamed into the voicemail, his voice cracking with panicked desperation. "Rebecca, call me right now! We need to talk! The divorce was a mistake!"
He hung up, dialed his corporate attorney, Richard Vance.
"Richard! Stop the court filing!" Nathan barked into the receiver. "The divorce decree—can we revoke it?!"
"Nathan, what are you talking about?" Richard answered, sounding baffled. "The judge signed the final decree at eleven o'clock this morning. It's already entered into the county register. You are legally divorced. Rebecca is a free woman."
"Find her!" Nathan demanded, tears of humiliated rage finally streaming down his cheeks. "She's at O'Hare! Send security! Stop her plane!"
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"Nathan, her relocation to Seattle was explicitly approved by the court with your signed consent," Richard said coldly. "If you send private security to intercept an interstate commercial flight, you will be arrested for federal harassment. What on earth is happening?"
Nathan dropped his phone onto the floor, the glass screen shattering against the tiles, mirroring the complete and total annihilation of his life.
