Chapter 9 - The Eviction of the Parasites
"Get out," Arthur commanded, gesturing toward the private elevator.
Nathan slowly rose to his feet, his knees wobbling. He picked up his single leather carry-on, not looking at Brooke, not offering her a hand, walking toward the elevator like a man condemned to the gallows.
Brooke stood up from the floor, wiping her tears, her voice trembling with raw, desperate fear.
"Mrs. Prescott... please," Brooke whispered, stepping toward me with trembling hands. "I'm pregnant. I have eighty-four dollars in my checking account. My parents in Georgia disowned me when I told them I was having a baby with a married man. Where am I going to go?"
I looked at the young woman standing before me.
She was foolish, greedy, and had willingly tried to rob me of my family's legacy. But beneath the designer clothes and the shattered ambition, she was carrying an innocent child who had done nothing wrong.
I signaled to Arthur, who opened a side folder and pulled out a single cashier's check.
"This is fifteen thousand dollars, Brooke," I said, sliding the check onto the marble counter. "It is funded from my personal charitable foundation."
Brooke gasped, staring at the check in disbelief. "Why... why would you help me after what I did to you?"
"I am not helping you, Brooke," I said firmly, looking directly into her eyes. "I am helping the baby boy you are carrying. This money will pay for your prenatal medical care, your delivery, and a flight home to your family."
Tears streamed down Brooke’s cheeks as she picked up the check with shaking fingers.
"Thank you, Mrs. Prescott," she wept, bowing her head in genuine, profound humility. "I am so sorry. I am so, so sorry for what Nathan and I did to you."
"Take the check, get on a bus, and raise that boy to be an honest man, Brooke," I said softly. "Because his father is a ghost who will never give him anything."
Brooke nodded rapidly, turned around, and stepped into the elevator beside Nathan.
The heavy bronze doors slid shut, severing them from my life forever.
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I stood alone in the grand penthouse, listening to the gentle hum of the ocean breeze through the terrace doors.
The nightmare was over. The betrayal was excised, the inheritance was restored, and my future belonged entirely to me.
