Chapter 2 - The Collapse of the Blackwood Empire
My father, Richard Vale, walked to the center of the ballroom as if he were walking onto a battlefield he had already won.
He did not raise his voice.
He did not need to.
He reached into his breast pocket and produced a single, thin stack of documents.
He dropped them onto the primary table, the sound echoing against the high ceilings like a gunshot.
“Vivian,” he said, his voice terrifyingly calm. “I believe you are familiar with these.”
Vivian looked at the papers, her face turning from pale to a ghastly, translucent grey.
They were the emergency loan agreements.
The secret financing that had kept the Blackwood construction empire afloat while their actual projects failed.
“This... this is private,” she whispered, the diamond necklace around her neck suddenly looking like a noose.
“It was private,” my father said, turning to address the entire room.
“However, the terms of these loans were strictly conditional upon the moral standing and integrity of the Blackwood family.”
“I’d say assaulting a guest—specifically, assaulting my daughter—is a rather significant breach of that moral standing.”
Ethan finally stepped forward, his eyes darting between my father’s cold expression and the panicked face of his mother.
“Sir, this is a misunderstanding,” Ethan pleaded, his voice cracking.
“I have loved Lena for three years.”
My father looked at him.
He didn't look at him like a man looks at a son-in-law.
He looked at him like a man looks at a failed investment.
“You have loved her enough to watch her get struck in the face?”
“You have loved her enough to let her stand alone in the snow?”
“You are not a man, Ethan.”
“You are a ghost of a man, hiding behind a mother who is just as hollow as you are.”
My father signaled to his attorney.
“The foreclosure notice for the Blackwood Country Club is in that file,” he said.
“As well as the immediate recall of every outstanding debt your family owes to the Vale private equity firm.”
“The clock has started.”
“You have until midnight to vacate the club, the house, and the corporate headquarters.”
The room erupted into chaos.
Guests were whispering, recording, and scrambling to get away from the falling debris of the Blackwood name.
Vivian collapsed into a chair, her silver dress pooling around her like a broken mirror.
She looked small.
She looked entirely, terrifyingly ordinary.
I stood beside my father, watching the house of cards finally succumb to the weight of its own arrogance.
I didn't feel happy.
I felt something much colder.
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I felt the immense, terrifying freedom of being a Vale.
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