Chapter 4 - Chapter 4 - The Tables Turn Completely
The courtyard erupted into absolute pandemonium. Executive colleagues who had been laughing at Julian’s crude jokes moments earlier scattered backward as if he carried a deadly plague. Selina, realizing her new husband Arthur’s family name was now inextricably linked to a disgraced felon facing federal prison, grabbed Arthur’s arm and practically dragged him toward the exit, hissing frantic recriminations. Julian stood completely alone in the center of the sprawling patio, abandoned by his friends, his colleagues, and his family, staring up at me with eyes wide with sheer terror. "Chloe... please," Julian whimpered, his voice cracking as he took a desperate, stumbling step toward the stage, abandoning all his tough-guy bluster. "We’ve been married for five years... we have a family! You can’t do this to me! Talk to your lawyers, tell them it’s a mistake! We can fix this together!" I slowly lowered the microphone, stepping down the wooden stairs of the DJ booth one deliberate, unhurried step at a time, until I stood just inches away from him. The man who had sneered at my post-partum body, who had mocked my exhaustion, and who had tried to discard me like trash was now trembling before me like a broken child. "When you locked me out of your emotional life and treated my sacrifices like a joke, you dug your own grave, Julian," I whispered softly, so only he could hear. "When you told everyone I was a pathetic mess compared to Selina, you signed your own financial and legal death warrant. But don't worry about the house, or the cars, or the bank accounts. The courts have already frozen every single cent under asset forfeiture laws. You won't have to worry about luxury anymore—the federal penitentiary provides free housing and three meals a day." Sirens began wailing in the distance, cutting through the humid night air as two unmarked federal cruiser cars pulled up outside the sprawling iron gates of the estate, their red and blue emergency lights flashing against the luxury architecture.
