Chapter 9 - The Erasure of a Monster
Warren didn't even stand up. He simply looked down at Vance with the utter revulsion one might reserve for an insect crawling across a dinner plate.
""You are not a father, Mercer,"" Warren said evenly. ""You are an apex predator who picked the wrong prey.""
Warren gestured to the head of security, who placed a thick document on the table beside Vance.
""That is a voluntary termination of parental rights,"" I told Vance, holding my son closer. ""Alongside an airtight post-nuptial disclosure admitting to infidelity, fraud, and spousal abandonment. If you sign it right now, my father’s legal team will allow your bail to stand pending trial on the financial fraud charges. You will face probation and restitution rather than twenty years in federal penitentiary.""
Vance’s eyes darted frantically across the pages. ""You... you want me to give up my rights to my own son?""
""You surrendered those rights the moment you hung up the phone to eat birthday cake with your mother,"" I replied without a shred of pity. ""Sign it, Vance. Or spend the next two decades in federal prison watching my father build Leo’s future from behind bulletproof glass.""
Vance’s hands shook so violently the pen nearly slipped from his fingers. He looked at me, hoping to find even a trace of the meek, apologetic woman who used to cook his dinners and clean his house while taking his verbal abuse. He found nothing. Only the cold, unyielding iron of a Sterling.
With tears of humiliation streaming down his face, Vance scribbled his signature across the bottom of every page.
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""Now get out,"" Warren ordered, his voice ringing with absolute finality. ""If you ever come within five hundred yards of my daughter or my grandson again, I will buy every debt your family owes and ensure you spend the rest of your natural life destitute on the streets of this city.""
Security hauled Vance to his feet and dragged him out into the hallway, his desperate cries fading into the sterile hospital corridor until there was only blessed, perfect silence.
