Chapter 9 - The Desperate Fall of Wendy and Luca
By Friday evening, the reality of their destruction had closed around Wendy and Luca like an iron trap.
Wendy was released on a fifty-thousand-dollar bond, posted by her brother Marcus using his dilapidated bait-and-tackle shop as collateral.
When she arrived back at her home, she found foreclosure notices pinned to the front door. The commercial bank had called in the primary mortgage after the county prosecutor froze all corporate assets linked to her shell companies.
Luca was waiting for her on the porch, sitting on his suitcase.
“Get off my porch,” Wendy said, her voice hoarse, her face haggard, looking every one of her seventy years.
“I have nowhere to go, Mom,” Luca said, his voice flat, completely dead inside. “The bank took the house. Jessi changed the locks on our suburban home. My car was repossessed this afternoon because the lease payments were tied to the corporate account. I have eleven dollars in my pocket.”
Wendy scoffed, unlocking the front door. “Go get a job. You’re an engineer.”
“Nobody will hire me!” Luca screamed, following her into the foyer. “My name is radioactive! The video has two million views on YouTube! Every engineering firm in the state has blacklisted me! You took everything from me! You took my career! You took my wife! You took my daughter!”
Wendy turned around, her eyes burning with pure, unadulterated venom.
“I didn't take anything from you, you spineless little weakling!” Wendy snarled, pointing a bony finger at his chest. “You gave it away! You couldn't handle Jessi! You let that girl outsmart you! You were always a failure, Luca! Your father was a failure, and you are just like him! Get out of my house!”
Luca stared at her. The illusion was gone. The golden pedestal he had built for his mother had shattered into dust.
For the first time in his life, Luca saw Wendy Vance not as a mother, but as a parasite who had fed on his soul until there was nothing left to drain.
“I hate you,” Luca whispered.
Wendy didn't blink. “Close the door on your way out.”
Luca walked down the long driveway into the cold rain.
He walked for three miles until he reached Rachel’s apartment complex. He stood across the street under the dripping branches of an oak tree, shivering, his clothes soaked through.
He looked up at the fourth-floor window. The warm yellow light shone through the glass.
Inside, he could see the silhouette of Fiona dancing on Rachel’s living room rug, holding a small toy, while Jessi laughed, kneeling beside her.
He pulled out his phone, his wet fingers struggling against the cracked screen. He dialed Brenda’s office line, knowing it would forward to an emergency answering service.
“Please,” Luca sobbed into the voicemail, his voice breaking into ragged gasps. “Jessi... please. I’m sorry. I was blind. I will do whatever you want. I will cut Mom out forever. I will testify against her. I will sign anything. Just let me see Fiona. Just let me hear her voice. Please don't leave me with nothing.”
Across the street, in the warm apartment, my phone buzzed on the kitchen island.
Brenda had forwarded the voicemail transcript.
I read the words: *Please don't leave me with nothing.*
I walked over to the window, pulled down the heavy fabric blinds, and blocked out the dark street entirely.
I didn't hate Luca anymore. Hatred required energy. Hatred required caring.
All I felt for him was profound, clean indifference.
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He hadn't been left with nothing. He had been left with exactly what he chose: his mother, his cowardice, and the consequences of his actions.
***
