Chapter 7 - The Collapse Of The Vipers
The sound of Jessica’s slap echoed across the high marble ceilings of the corporate atrium.
Brendan stumbled sideways, clutching his reddened cheek, his eyes wide with shock.
“Jessica!” he cried out, his voice pathetic and cracked.
“I did all of that for you!”
“I gave you the jewelry, the cars, the penthouse!”
“You didn't give me anything, you pathetic thief!” Jessica shrieked, her voice stripping away every trace of her former high-society polish.
“You gave me stolen money from your ex-wife!”
“You dragged my father’s name into federal fraud!”
She turned toward me, falling to her knees right in front of the turnstile, her polished hands clasping together in desperate supplication.
“Cassidy... Mrs. Sterling!” Jessica wept, tears carving deep tracks through her makeup.
“I didn't know!”
“I swear on my life, I didn't know who you were!”
“Brendan told me you were just an uneducated girl from the midwest who trapped him with a pregnancy!”
“He told me you signed an agreement waiving everything!”
“I was manipulated by him, please!”
“Have mercy on my family!”
I looked down at the woman who, less than twelve hours ago, had asked for an old utility rag so I wouldn't dirty her expensive linen.
“Mercy is a luxury reserved for those who show it to others, Miss Palmer,” I replied quietly.
“When I sat shivering at that table with my child kicking in fear, did you show mercy?”
“Did you offer a towel?”
“Or did you laugh into your champagne?”
Jessica froze, her mouth slightly open, incapable of producing a single word of defense.
Suddenly, a wild, piercing wail erupted from the street doors.
Diane came charging through the revolving entrance, her wet five-dollar blanket trailing behind her like a tattered shroud.
Her face was purple with rage, her gray hair standing up in wild, unkempt tufts.
“Cassidy Vance!” Diane screamed, pointing a crooked, trembling finger at me.
“You witch!”
“You deceitful, scheming little viper!”
“You planned this from the very beginning!”
“You married my son to destroy us!”
“You used your dirty corporate money to humiliate the Morrison name!”
Director Vance stepped forward, raising his phone to his ear.
“Officers, remove her.”
Two uniformed NYPD officers, who had been waiting outside the perimeter, immediately stepped through the glass doors.
Diane fought against them like a feral animal, clawing at their sleeves as they grabbed her wrists.
“Get your hands off me!” she shrieked.
“Do you know who I am?”
“I am Diane Morrison!”
“I sit on the board of the Metropolitan Opera!”
“I chair the Society of Fine Arts!”
“Not anymore, Mrs. Morrison,” Director Vance announced coldly.
“The Metropolitan Opera issued a press release twenty minutes ago removing you from the board due to severe financial irregularities in your philanthropic declarations.”
“Furthermore, the grand jury has officially indicted you for conspiracy to commit tax fraud in relation to the Saint-Tropez property transfers.”
Diane went completely limp in the officers’ grip.
Her eyes rolled back slightly, the reality of her total, absolute ruin finally crushing her spirit.
“My son...” she whimpered, turning her head weakly toward Brendan.
“Brendan... save me...”
Brendan couldn't even look at her.
He stood staring at the marble floor, his shoulders hunched, completely broken, stripped of every ounce of prestige he had ever possessed.
The officers dragged Diane backward through the glass doors, her hysterical wails fading into the noisy rush of the Fifth Avenue morning traffic.
I turned to Director Vance.
“Clear the lobby.”
“I have a nine o'clock executive briefing with the European partners.”
“Right away, Chairwoman,” Vance replied with a respectful nod.
As I turned toward the private elevator, Brendan fell onto his knees behind the glass barrier.
“Cassidy! Please!” he screamed, his voice breaking into raw sobs.
“Don't let them take me!”
“Think of our baby!”
I stopped for a fraction of a second, without turning back.
“My daughter will know who her mother is, Brendan.”
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“And she will be raised far away from the poison of your name.”
The elevator doors slid shut, sealing away his pathetic cries forever.
