Chapter 7 - Exiled
The fallout was immediate and catastrophic for the family’s social standing. By the following morning, the board of directors had held an emergency meeting, stripping Eleanor and Gabriela of their titles and voting rights. They were left with nothing but their pride and the legal consequences of their actions.
They attempted a final, desperate move. When Preston returned home to prepare for the formal legal proceedings, he found them waiting in the foyer. They weren't there to apologize; they were there to threaten. Gabriela tried to confront him with a tirade of insults, while Eleanor stood by, her demeanor shifting from cold calculation to a frantic, grasping desperation.
"You're nothing without us," Eleanor hissed, her voice trembling. "We built this, we sustained this. You're just a puppet who finally cut his own strings."
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Preston didn't raise his voice. He simply signaled the private security team he had hired. "You had your chance to be family," he said, looking at them with a profound, final indifference. "But you chose to be parasites. You are no longer welcome in this house, in this firm, or in my life."
As they were escorted off the property, the silence that returned to the house was different. It wasn't the suffocating silence of oppression; it was the quiet of freedom. They were officially exiled from his world, and for the first time, Preston felt the full weight of the trauma he had allowed to fester in his home begin to lift.
