Chapter 8 - Total Collapse
Gavin pulled out his phone with trembling hands. His eyes widened in absolute horror as he read the notification on his screen:
APEX CAPITAL: LOAN DEFAULT NOTICE. IMMEDIATE ASSET SEIZURE ENFORCED ON ALL ACCOUNTS AND COLLATERAL PROPERTIES.
"No..." Gavin gasped, stumbling back against the decorative floral arch. "No, no, no! Apex promised me an extension!"
"Apex Capital doesn't give extensions to frauds, Gavin," I called down from the balcony, taking a step down the grand marble staircase toward the main floor. "And as the sole owner and Managing Director of First Star Holdings—the parent company of Apex Capital—I personally rejected your request."
The ballroom went dead silent. You could have heard a pin drop on the velvet carpet.
My father dropped his champagne glass. It shattered against the polished floor, spraying sparkling wine across his shoes. "You... you own First Star Holdings?"
"Grandmother left it to me, Father," I said, reaching the bottom of the stairs and walking slowly toward the stage. "She knew what you were. She knew you would gamble away everything if given the chance. And she knew Brooke would grow up believing she was entitled to take whatever belonged to me."
Brooke was sobbing hysterically now, clutching the baby while my mother tried frantically to shield her from the flashing cameras of the press.
"Eleanor, please!" my mother cried out, her voice cracking with desperation as she abandoned all her previous arrogance. "We are your family! How can you do this to your own sister? To your newborn nephew?!"
"Where was this concern for family when I walked into Room 314 at the hospital?" I asked, stopping a few feet from the stage, looking my mother straight in the eyes. "Where was your outrage when Gavin kissed my sister while I stood there holding flowers? Where was your family loyalty when Brooke told me to keep paying their mortgage so they could live in my home?"
My mother opened her mouth, but no sound came out. She looked around at the judging, disgusted faces of the high-society guests who were now looking at her with total contempt.
"You took my kindness for weakness," I said, turning my gaze to Gavin, who was now being placed in handcuffs by Officer Miller. "You thought because I stayed quiet, I was defeated. But silence isn't surrender, Gavin. It's just preparation."
"I'll sue you!" Gavin screamed as the officers turned him around and began leading him toward the exit. "You hear me, Eleanor?! I'll take everything you have!"
"You have no money for a lawyer, Gavin," Victor remarked coolly, stepping up beside me. "Your personal assets are frozen. Your tech company has been placed into emergency receivership. And the Cumberland house? Eviction marshals are currently changing the locks on the front door as we speak."
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Brooke let out a choked gasp and collapsed onto a chair on the stage. "Our house... our clothes... everything is in that house!"
"It was never your house, Brooke," I said softly, looking down at my younger sister without a shred of pity. "It was mine. And today, I took it back."
