Chapter 7 - The Downfall
The news hit the financial networks within an hour.
"Harrington Development loses massive Whitmore Global contract."
"Sterling Capital faces sudden insolvency."
The stock prices for Harrington Development plummeted by eighty percent before lunch.
By three o'clock in the afternoon, the bank had frozen all of Ethan's corporate accounts.
Ethan, Margaret, and Brooke stood in the living room of the Lake Forest mansion.
The same room where they had cruelly banished Claire just the night before.
The atmosphere was now thick with pure dread.
Brooke's phone rang constantly with screaming relatives demanding to know why their family firm was collapsing.
Brooke finally snapped her phone shut and glared at Ethan.
"This is your fault!" she screamed.
"You told me she was a nobody!"
"You told me she was a poor, pathetic loser!"
Ethan stared at the floor, hollow and lifeless.
"She was my wife," he muttered.
Brooke scoffed loudly, grabbing her expensive designer coat.
"Well, she isn't anymore."
"And frankly, Ethan, neither am I your problem anymore."
Ethan looked up, startled.
"Where are you going?" he asked.
"I'm leaving," Brooke spat out viciously.
"I signed up to marry a billionaire real estate mogul."
"I did not sign up to be tied to a bankrupt loser living with his controlling mother."
Margaret gasped.
"How dare you speak to us that way!" Margaret shrieked.
"After everything we offered you!"
Brooke laughed cruelly.
"You have nothing to offer anyone, Margaret."
"You are just as broke as the girl you kicked out last night."
Brooke turned on her heel and stormed out of the house.
The heavy front doors slammed shut, echoing loudly through the empty, doomed mansion.
Margaret collapsed onto the expensive sofa, weeping into her hands.
"What are we going to do, Ethan?" she cried.
"We have no money."
"We have no friends."
"The country club just called and revoked our membership because our dues bounced."
May you like
Ethan walked over to the fireplace and stared at the dying embers.
He had traded a diamond for a rock, and now he had to live with the ashes.
