Chapter 5 - The Cost of Disregard
"We can fix this, Eve!" Richard screamed, tears streaming down his face as he struggled against the guards' grip. "Look at me! We have a son! Leo needs his father! You can't raise him in this... this cold palace without a family!"
"He has a family, Richard," I said, gesturing to Arthur Pendelton, who stepped out from the library room holding a certified copy of the legal filings. "He has the Sterling family. A family that doesn't require a paternity test to show loyalty, and a family that doesn't put a ten-thousand-dollar price tag on a human life."
Arthur handed a document to Richard. "This is the final decree of absolute divorce, Mr. Thornton. It was signed by a federal judge twenty minutes ago under the Emergency State Review Act. You have zero custody rights, zero visitation privileges, and your name has been legally removed from the birth registry under the abandonment clause of the state code."
Richard looked at the paper, his face turning a horrific shade of white. "No... you can't do that. I have rights! I’m a Thornton!"
"A Thornton is a name that will be listed on the bankruptcy exchange by tomorrow afternoon, Richard," I said, standing up from the sofa for the first time. I walked over to him, the long train of my silk gown sweeping the marble floor, stopping just inches from his shaking form. "Your father’s firm is done. Your mother’s luxury accounts have been deactivated. And as for your career as a junior partner? The state licensing board received a complete file on your insider trading activities from our compliance team this morning."
Richard’s eyes went wide with pure terror. "How... how did you get those files?"
"I own the server company your firm uses for its secure communications, Richard," I said softly, leaning close to his ear. "I’ve owned it since before we met. I kept your secrets because I thought you were a good man who was just trapped under his family's thumb. But when you let your mother try to take my son away from me... you turned my protection into a target."
He collapsed onto his knees, his hands clutching the fabric of my gown as he sobbed against the silk. "Eve, please... have mercy. Don't ruin my life. Don't leave me with nothing."
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"I’m not leaving you with nothing, Richard," I said, stepping back and letting the guards pull him away from my feet. "I’m leaving you with exactly what you gave me in that hospital room: a pen, an empty envelope, and the long walk back to the bottom. Get him out of my sight."
The guards dragged him into the elevator, his screams of panic fading as the silver doors slid closed.
