Chapter 7 - The Downward Spiral
Word travels fast in high society. Without my money to prop them up, the Sterling family fell from grace with spectacular speed.
Within two months, the country club officially revoked their membership. Without the endless flow of expensive gifts and hosted dinners, their wealthy "friends" abandoned them.
Vanessa had to move back into my parents' estate because she couldn't afford a security deposit on a new apartment. My father tried to take out a massive personal loan to keep up appearances, but without me as a guarantor, he was laughed out of the bank.
They tried to smear my name. My mother told anyone who would listen that Clara had "brainwashed" me, that she was a gold-digger who had stolen their son. But I was well-respected in the business community, and people knew Clara. They knew she still worked two days a week as a nurse despite my wealth. The gossip backfired, cementing my parents' reputation as unhinged and desperate.
May you like
Thanksgiving came and went. We spent it with Clara’s family—warm, grounded, loving people who played board games and ate homemade pie. There was no crystal to break. There were no imported chairs to protect. There was just love.
Meanwhile, my parents were forced to put their Connecticut estate on the market. They couldn't afford the property taxes. The very walls they had worshipped were crumbling around them.
