Chapter 6 - The Ultimatum
Liam looked around the table, realizing with terrifying clarity that he had been completely abandoned. His parents had turned against him, my family despised him, and his wife—the woman he had underestimated and dismissed as a weak, isolated housewife—had executed a masterclass in tactical warfare that left him utterly defenseless.
"What do you want, Elena?" Liam whispered, his voice hollow, stripped of all arrogance. He looked up at me with pleading, watery eyes. "Do you want a divorce? Is that it? You want to drag me through court, take the house, ruin my career?"
I let out a quiet, cold laugh. It was a sound devoid of any warmth, making him shrink back even further into his chair.
"A divorce?" I tilted my head, looking down at him as if he were a bug under a microscope. "Oh, Liam, a quiet little divorce where you get to skulk off into the sunset with Chloe and play the victim of a nagging wife? No. That is far too easy for you."
"Then what?" he demanded, a flicker of panic flaring up behind his desperation. "What else could you possibly want?"
I walked back to my seat, pulled out my chair with slow deliberation, and sat down. I rested my hands on the table, folding them neatly together.
"First," I said, ticking the items off on my fingers one by one, "you are going to pack your bags tonight. You are not sleeping another night under this roof. You can go rent a room at that lovely boutique downtown—the one you charged to your company expense account. I'm sure Chloe will be more than happy to help you unpack."
Liam opened his mouth to protest, but a sharp glare from my father instantly silenced him.
"Second," I continued smoothly, "tomorrow morning at nine o'clock sharp, we will be at my attorney’s office. You will sign every single document I place in front of you. You will agree to full custody of Hailey residing with me, with generous, supervised visitation rights that I will approve. You will sign over your equity in this house as compensation for your financial and emotional betrayal."
"Elena, you can't take everything—" Liam choked out, his face turning pale. "How am I supposed to live? Where am I supposed to work?"
"That," I replied with a sweet, blinding smile, "is between you, your father’s firm, and your little girlfriend from accounting. Which brings me to my third and final condition."
Liam swallowed hard, his whole body trembling. "Third?"
May you like
"On Monday morning," I said, leaning forward slightly, my eyes locking onto his with absolute finality, "you are going to walk into your office, march straight into human resources, and hand in your resignation. You are going to resign before your father fires you publicly and turns you into a pariah in the architectural community."
Liam stared at me, his jaw slack, the full magnitude of his impending ruin crashing down upon him like a tidal wave. He had thought he was the master of his own game, pulling the strings behind everyone's backs. But in the end, he had handed me the scissors, and I had cut every single string he owned.
