Chapter 7 - The Desperation of the Elite
“Zora... please,” Ottoline choked out, her aristocratic composure completely shattering as she reached out a trembling, manicured hand toward my sleeve. “We’re family. You can’t do this to your own mother. Think of our name, think of our reputation—!”
“What reputation, Mother?” I asked quietly, my voice cutting through the humid air of the ballroom. “The one you built on lies, theft, and the humiliation of my daughter?”
Georgette lunged forward, her mask of polite sophistication entirely stripped away, revealing the desperate, vicious bully underneath. “You ungrateful, miserable parasite!” she shrieked, tears of rage streaming down her face, ruining her expensive makeup. “You think a little paper trail makes you one of us? You’ll always be a diner waitress! You’ll always be poor!”
“I am not poor anymore, Georgette,” I replied calmly. “And more importantly, I was never the parasite.”
The federal court marshal stepped forward, placing a heavy hand on Alistair’s shoulder while handing Georgette an official notice of immediate eviction and asset seizure.
“Mr. and Mrs. Sterling, you are required to surrender all corporate keys, vehicle titles, and secondary property deeds to the court-appointed receiver immediately,” the marshal stated formally.
Within minutes, the glittering ballroom emptied out in a chaotic scramble of panicked whispers and scurrying footsteps. The photographers packed their cameras without taking a single picture of the fallen socialites. Within half an hour, the grand ballroom was entirely deserted, save for Harrison, the marshals, Junia, and me.
Ottoline sat slumped in a gilt-edged chair at the abandoned VIP table, staring blankly at her empty champagne glass, looking like a ghost haunting the ruins of her own greed.
Georgette stood in the center of the empty floor, her designer dress stained with spilled champagne, her empire reduced to a stack of federal foreclosure notices.
May you like
I looked down at my daughter, who gazed around the vast, silent room with calm, intelligent eyes.
“Come on, Junia,” I said softly. “Let’s go home.”
