Chapter 8 - The Price of Treason
"You were sleeping with her the entire time!" Nathan sobbed into the grass, his face pressed into the wet dirt. "You used her to spy on my bids!"
"Of course I did," Julian smiled, stepping over Nathan’s sprawled legs. "Vanessa was feeding me your confidential acquisition numbers for nine months. How do you think I beat you on the River North project?"
Julian walked over to the front porch, where two of his private drivers were already loading Vanessa’s designer trunks into his trunk.
Patricia stood on the porch, trembling, staring at the woman she had praised as the savior of their bloodline.
"You evil, deceitful snake," Patricia hissed, her voice shaking with hatred. "I treated you like a daughter! I bought you diamond bracelets!"
Vanessa didn't even look at the old woman. She adjusted her sunglasses, holding her baby’s carrier with one hand, her voice dripping with cold indifference.
"You treated me like a broodmare because you hated Rebecca, Patricia," Vanessa sneered. "You didn't care about me. You just wanted a shiny new trophy to show off at the country club. And now your son is broke, and your house belongs to the woman you called useless."
Vanessa climbed into Julian’s sports car, the engine roared to life, and the vehicle sped down the tree-lined drive, leaving the mother and son standing in the ruins of their own vanity.
Within forty minutes, the deputies finished changing the locks on the heavy mahogany doors.
Nathan and Patricia were left standing at the curb of their private street, surrounded by four mismatched suitcases containing their clothes.
Patricia sat on her suitcase, burying her face in her trembling hands, weeping with the raw, agonizing realization that her social standing, her wealth, and her pride were permanently dead.
Nathan pulled out his cracked phone, tapping the screen to check his remaining personal checking balance.
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ACCOUNT STATUS: CLOSED BY FINANCIAL INSTITUTION.AVAILABLE BALANCE: $14.28.
He looked up at the towering brick mansion that had been his kingdom, then looked at his hands—hands that had thrown away a loyal wife, two beautiful children, and an empire, all for a pack of lies.
