Chapter 7 - The Empty Throne
The front door closed with a soft, final click, leaving Marcus and his mother alone in the cavernous, silent house.
The Christmas tree lights twinkled mockingly against the walls. The shattered deviled egg tray lay scattered across the floor like a Jackson Pollock painting of domestic ruin. The crushed velvet ring box sat like a dead beetle on the hardwood.
Marcus slid slowly down the hallway wall until he was sitting on the floor, his knees pulled up to his chest, staring blankly at the front door.
Patricia stood over him for a long, agonizing moment, her chest heaving, her face twisted in disbelief.
“Do something!” Patricia screamed, her voice cracking into a sob. “Call her! Fix this! Call your lawyers! You can’t let her win!”
Marcus didn’t answer. He couldn’t.
His phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out with trembling fingers and unlocked the screen.
A notification from his bank: ACCOUNT BALANCE: -$412.50. ACCOUNTS CURRENTLY FROZEN PENDING LEGAL REVIEW.
Another notification from Summit Insurance HR: NOTICE OF TERMINATION FOR CAUSE.
The illusion was gone. The empire of smoke and mirrors he had spent a decade building had burned to the ground in less than twenty minutes. He wasn’t a successful billionaire bachelor; he was a broke, unemployed, legally hunted deadbeat father trapped in his mother's basement.
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Patricia burst into loud, bitter tears, covering her face with her hands and shuffling away toward the kitchen, leaving Marcus entirely alone in the wreckage of his own malice.
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