Chapter 7 - The Collapse of an Empire
"I didn't sign it!" Mark yelled at David, then turned his frantic gaze toward Richard Vance. "Richard, listen to me! I was deceived! My mother acted without my consent! You know how much family means to me!"
Richard Vance looked at Mark as if he were a cockroach crawling across an expensive Persian rug.
"Family?" Richard said, his tone biting and lethal. "Mark, for eighteen months, you’ve sat at my dinner table preaching about integrity, loyalty, and Christian values. You told my daughter her ex-boyfriend was untrustworthy because he hid a speeding ticket! And all along, you abandoned two infant boys because you were too cowardly to ask your mother what mail came to your house?"
"I didn't know, Richard! I swear on my life I didn't know!"
"You didn't WANT to know," Emily cried out, tears finally streaming down her cheeks, ruining her foundation. She looked down at Mark with pure revulsion. "You never checked on her. You never even asked if she was okay after you threw her out like garbage. And today... you brought her here just to brag? Just to humiliate her?"
Emily took off the diamond eternity band Mark had given her at their wedding. She threw it directly into his chest.
"Emily, no! Think of our baby!" Mark begged, dropping to his knees to pick up the ring.
"I am thinking of our baby," Emily said, her voice shaking with rage. "I'm thinking that my child is going to be raised by a liar who uses babies as trophies to stroke his pathetic ego. Dad, take me home. Now."
"Emily, please!" Mark reached for her hem, but Richard Vance stepped between them, his face like thunder.
"On Monday morning, Mark, my attorneys will be terminating the partnership agreement with your firm," Richard stated with absolute finality. "The mezzanine loan of three million dollars is callable upon breach of moral conduct. You will have forty-eight hours to wire the full amount back to Vance Holdings."
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"Three million?" Mark choked, looking like a man drowning in dry air. "Richard, that will ruin me! I don't have that cash! The firm will be liquidated!"
"Then you’d better start packing your boxes," Richard said coldly, guiding his weeping daughter toward the side doors.
