Chapter 7 - Mark Breaks Down
After the morning hearing, the courthouse corridor emptied out, leaving only the distant echo of footsteps and opening doors.
Evelyn excused herself to file the afternoon chancery documents, leaving me sitting on a wooden bench outside the courtroom. I closed my eyes, taking my first deep breath in days.
""Rachel.""
I opened my eyes. Mark was standing three feet away, clutching his wrinkled coat against his chest like a shield. His face was blotchy, streaked with fresh tears.
""I told you not to approach me without your lawyer, Mark,"" I said evenly.
""Please,"" he choked out, dropping to his knees right there on the cold courthouse floor. ""Please, Rachel. Just five minutes. Don't look at me like that. I’m begging you.""
A few passing clerks glanced over, but this was a courthouse; public breakdowns were the wallpaper here.
""Get up, Mark. Have some dignity.""
""I don't have any dignity left!"" he sobbed, his shoulders heaving. ""Mom’s going to prison. She’s going to prison for years, Rachel! The lawyer said with the fraud charges and the violation, she’s looking at three to five years minimum! She won't survive in there!""
""She should have thought about that before she hit me, stole eighty-five thousand dollars, and tried to steal my condo,"" I said, my voice completely steady.
""It was her idea! I told you, she pressured me!""
""And you were thirty-two years old, Mark. You had a college degree. You had a career. You had a wife who loved you, who shared everything with you, who never asked you for a single cent of your money."" I looked down at him, feeling an overwhelming sense of pity mixed with profound disgust. ""You weren't a victim. You were an accomplice who thought you could have your cake and eat it too. You wanted to play the dutiful son to an abusive mother while leeching off a capable wife.""
Mark looked up, tears streaming into his stubble. ""I love you, Rachel. I swear to God, I love you. I never wanted to hurt you. If you drop the charges against Mom, we can leave Chicago. We can take my savings and start over anywhere you want. Seattle, Austin, anywhere. I’ll cut her off completely! I’ll never speak to her again!""
I stared at him, almost fascinated by how completely disconnected from reality he was.
""You really don't get it, do you?"" I asked softly. ""You think this is a movie where the villain gives an emotional monologue and the heroine forgets that he tried to rob her blind?""
Mark blinked, his mouth slightly open.
""First of all,"" I continued, ticking off points on my fingers, ""you don't have any savings. Your bank accounts were frozen this morning by court order. Second, your consulting firm placed you on administrative leave yesterday afternoon after Officer Henderson called them to verify your employment history for the fraud report.""
Mark’s eyes widened in sheer terror. ""What? No... no, they can't do that!""
""They did. Corporate compliance doesn't look favorably on employees implicated in wire fraud and grand larceny."" I stood up, smoothing the front of my blazer. ""And third, Mark... I filed for divorce this morning. Incompatibility, financial infidelity, and domestic cruelty. You have thirty days to respond to the summons.""
""Rachel, don't do this!"" he cried, reaching out to grab the hem of my pants.
I stepped back cleanly, letting his hands fall onto the linoleum.
May you like
""The girl who let your mother insult her cooking and walk all over her home is gone, Mark,"" I said. ""You killed her the second you stood in that doorway with a toothbrush and told me to get up and make breakfast. Goodbye.""
I walked down the long marble hallway toward the exit, listening to the muffled sounds of his weeping fade into the distance behind me.
