Chapter 14 - Vivian's Desperation
That evening, the autumn wind howled down East 72nd Street, whipping dead leaves across the steps of my townhouse.
I sat in the second-floor library, drinking a warm cup of Earl Grey tea and reviewing the draft of the finalized divorce decree Marcus had prepared. The decree stripped Garrett of every claim to marital property under our prenuptial agreement's infidelity and felony clauses.
A sudden, violent crash of glass from the ground floor shattered the quiet.
The alarm system immediately began to wail—a piercing, high-decibel siren that pulsed through the house.
I stood up, perfectly calm. I didn't panic. I knew my private security team was stationed in the garden cottage behind the house.
I walked to the security monitor on the library wall.
The screen showed the rear French doors of the kitchen shattered. Stumbling through the broken glass was Vivian Sterling.
She looked entirely unhinged. Her trench coat was filthy, her hair wild and matted from the rain, her fingers clutching a rusted iron crowbar she had found in the alleyway.
"Claire!" she screamed, her voice cutting through the wail of the alarm like a banshee. "Claire, you ruined my boy! You destroyed everything!"
She rushed toward the stairs, dragging the crowbar along the polished wooden steps, gouging deep, ugly scars into the antique mahogany.
Before she could reach the second-floor landing, the heavy oak doors burst open.
My two private security guards tackled Vivian to the ground with swift, controlled force, pinning her arms behind her and kicking the iron crowbar down the stairs.
Vivian writhed against the carpet, screaming profanities, her face purple with exertion. "You ungrateful little whore! I made you! Garrett gave you a name! You killed my family!"
I walked to the edge of the landing and looked down at her.
There was no hatred left in me. There was only a profound, cold pity for a woman who had spent her entire existence feeding on the hard work of others, mistaking cruelty for class and theft for breeding.
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"You never made me, Vivian," I said quietly, watching the red and blue flashing lights illuminate the hallway windows as the police arrived. "You were just an expensive parasite. And tonight, the extermination is complete."
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