Chapter 8 - The Confrontation
The private observation room overlooking the city was quiet, saved for the distant hum of traffic eighty stories below.
Marcus Thorne stood near the glass wall. The contrast between his past glory and his present reality was heartbreaking. He wore a cheap, ill-fitting dark suit. His hair was messy, his jaw covered in rough stubble, and his hands trembled slightly as he held a worn paper cup of cafeteria coffee.
The heavy door opened.
Khloe walked in alone. She wasn't carrying the baby.
Marcus turned around instantly, his eyes lighting up with a sudden, desperate hope. "Khloe!"
He took two quick steps forward, but stopped himself when he saw the absolute distance in her expression.
"Where... where is Leo?" Marcus stammered, looking frantically behind her. "Can I see him? Just for a minute?"
"No," Khloe said simply.
Marcus flinched as if struck. "Khloe, please... I’m signing the termination of parental rights today. I’m giving you full, uncontested custody. You win! You took the company, you took my mother’s estate, you took my reputation... just let me see my son once!"
Khloe walked over to the mahogany desk in the center of the room, standing behind it like a judge behind a bench.
"You don't want to see Leo because you love him, Marcus," Khloe said softly, her voice piercing through his defenses. "You want to see him so you can feel like a victim. You want to tell yourself that you’re a tragic father who lost everything to a vengeful wife."
"That’s not true!" Marcus shouted, tears finally spilling over his bloodshot eyes. "I made mistakes! I was blind! I let Isabella manipulate me!"
"Isabella didn't stand in that hospital room and tell the nurse to close the door," Khloe reminded him, her voice ringing clear as glass. "You did. You saw me bleeding on the carpet and your first thought was your stock price. You didn't care if Leo lived or died, as long as your name stayed clean."
Marcus dropped his head into his hands, sobbing violently. "I lost everything, Khloe... I have no money, no family, no home. The bank is repossessing my car tomorrow. My mother won't even speak to me from jail."
"You didn't lose everything, Marcus," Khloe said quietly, pushing a heavy fountain pen across the smooth surface of the desk toward him, beside the parental rights relinquishment contract. "You just finally have to pay for what you took."
Marcus looked at the black pen, then at the legal paper. His hands shook so violently he could barely grip the metal casing.
With a trembling breath, he pressed the pen to the paper and signed his name on the bottom line.
Marcus Thorne.
He pushed the paper back across the desk, looking up at Khloe with empty, broken eyes. "Are you happy now?"
Khloe picked up the paper, examining the signature carefully, before placing it into her leather folder.
May you like
"I’m not happy, Marcus," Khloe said, looking him dead in the eye. "I’m free."
She turned and walked out of the room, leaving Marcus Thorne alone in the dark glass tower he used to own.
