Chapter 4 - The House of Lies Collapses
Vincent walked into the master bedroom with the slow, deliberate stride of an executioner entering the chamber.
Sophia spun around from the vanity, clutching her diamond necklace, her breath shallow and panicked.
"Vincent, darling, please sit down," she began, her voice quivering with performative fragility.
"We need to discuss Ethan's schedule. He's very upset by how you spoke to him in the rotunda—"
Vincent tossed the tablet onto the king-sized mattress; it bounced once, landing display-up with the bank routing details illuminated.
Sophia’s gaze fell onto the screen, and the words died in her throat.
"Two million one hundred and sixty thousand dollars, Sophia," Vincent said, his voice flat, devoid of rage, carrying only absolute lethality.
"You stole the maintenance payments I sent to my wife."
"She abandoned you, Vincent!" Sophia screamed, her veneer of elegance shattering into raw, venomous spite.
"She walked out on your marriage! Why should she get ten thousand dollars a month while I was raising your rightful heir in Chicago?!"
"Noah was my firstborn son!" Vincent roared, the sheer volume of his voice shaking the crystal sconces on the walls.
"He is eighteen years old, Sophia! Which means Claire was carrying him the day she found out about you and Ethan!"
"She hid him from you!" Sophia shouted back, tears of fury streaming down her foundation.
"She wanted to punish you! She took your blood and hid in the dirt just to make you suffer!"
"She hid him because she knew what you were," Vincent said, stepping closer until his shadow completely swallowed her.
"She knew you were a greedy, parasitic viper who would have spent eighteen years trying to destroy that boy to protect Ethan's inheritance."
Ethan burst into the bedroom, looking between his furious father and his weeping mother.
"Dad, what the hell is going on?!" Ethan yelled, trying to step between them. "You're scaring Mom!"
Vincent turned his cold, uncompromising gaze onto the young man he had spent eighteen years spoiling with sports cars, penthouses, and private tutors.
Ethan had been arrested twice for reckless driving, failed out of two preparatory academies, and only gained admission to Harvard after Vincent pledged a twelve-million-dollar science wing.
And across town, his real son had earned the highest academic distinction in the country on a scholarship paid for with his mother's sweat.
"Pack your bags, Ethan," Vincent said quietly.
"What?" Ethan stammered, stunned. "Where are we going?"
"You and your mother are taking the private jet back to Chicago tonight," Vincent commanded.
"Dominic will escort you to the lake house. You will not leave that property until my forensic accountants finish stripping your mother's accounts."
"Vincent, you can't do this!" Sophia wept, dropping to her knees and grabbing his trouser leg. "We're married! We have a life together!"
Vincent looked down at her with pure disgust, kicking his leg free from her manicured grasp.
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"Our marriage was built on an intercepted wire and eighteen years of blood theft, Sophia," Vincent said coldly.
"The lawyers will serve the annulment papers before your plane touches the tarmac. You are finished in this family."
