Chapter 7 - The Unraveling
“Damian, please!” Brenda burst into tears, dropping her haughty demeanor instantly. “Mother told me to do it! She said Fiona was dragging our name through the mud! She said you needed a real wife like Julianna!”
“Don’t you dare pin this on me, you worthless child!” Gertrude shrieked, turning on her own daughter. “You were the one racking up hundreds of thousands in credit card debt after your divorce! Who paid your legal fees? Who bought your sports car? I did! With that money!”
Julianna looked disgusted. “I should go. Damian, I had nothing to do with this—”
“You can leave, Julianna,” Damian said without even glancing in her direction. “And tell your father that our joint venture is officially terminated. I don’t do business with families who look down on my wife.”
Julianna’s mouth fell open in horror. A multi-million-dollar partnership had evaporated in ten seconds. She turned on her heel and hurried out the front doors, the click of her heels echoing like gunfire down the foyer.
Fiona stood frozen against Damian’s side, her eyes wide with shock. For months she had believed she was going crazy—that her memory was failing her, that she truly was a burden dragging Damian down. Seeing the truth laid bare before her eyes left her speechless.
“Damian,” Gertrude pleaded, reaching for his arm with claw-like fingers. “We are your flesh and blood! This girl came from nothing! She has no pedigree, no influence! You can’t throw away your mother and sister for an ordinary girl!”
Damian looked at his mother’s manicured hand on his sleeve, his eyes devoid of any warmth.
“This ‘ordinary girl’ pawned her grandmother’s only heirloom when I had ninety-four dollars in my bank account,” Damian said, every word hitting Gertrude like a physical slap. “She ate boiled rice so I could buy gas to pitch my first hotel investor. While you were lounging in Scottsdale ignoring my calls, Fiona was holding my head while I threw up from stress.”
He shook Gertrude’s hand off his arm.
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“You aren’t my family,” Damian said. “Family doesn't poison the house that feeds them.”
***
