Chapter 2
Penelope screamed at the top of her lungs,
her face turning an ugly,
blotchy shade of red.
She let go of her new husband,
stomping toward us like a spoiled,
angry child throwing a massive tantrum.
"You ruined everything,"
she shrieked,
pointing a trembling,
manicured finger directly at my face.
"You always have to make absolutely everything about you,
you jealous,
miserable,
spiteful witch."
Blake stepped in front of me again,
blocking her path like an impenetrable,
solid wall of steel.
Penelope flinched visibly,
taking a hasty,
terrified step back as she finally met his deadly,
unforgiving glare.
"Speak to my wife like that again,"
Blake warned her,
his voice dropping to a dangerously low,
lethal whisper,
"and I will ensure you never speak another word in this city."
Her brand-new husband,
a supposedly wealthy investor named Julian,
tried to cautiously intervene.
"Mister Campbell,"
Julian started,
raising his hands in a pathetic gesture of peace,
"my wife is just highly emotional,
please forgive her outburst."
Blake slowly turned his piercing gaze toward Julian,
looking at him as if he were a disgusting insect on the bottom of his shoe.
"Julian Vance,"
Blake said,
tasting the name with obvious disgust,
"the man whose venture capital firm is secretly drowning in offshore debt."
Julian's face instantly went as pale as a ghost,
his fake,
confident smile vanishing completely.
"I have been closely watching your fraudulent accounts,"
Blake continued,
his voice echoing relentlessly through the emptying courtyard,
"and I have already forwarded the evidence to the federal authorities."
Penelope gasped loudly,
turning to stare at her husband in absolute,
utter horror.
"What is he talking about,"
Penelope demanded,
grabbing Julian by his expensive tuxedo lapels,
shaking him frantically.
Julian could not even form a coherent sentence,
his entire world crashing down around him in a matter of seconds.
My mother finally found her voice,
stepping forward with tears streaming down her carefully painted face.
"Please,"
my mother begged,
reaching a desperate hand out toward me,
her eyes full of deep,
agonizing regret.
"We did not know,
we would never have treated you this way if we knew."
I looked at the woman who had birthed me,
the woman who had coldly turned her head while I drowned in the fountain.
"That is exactly the problem,"
I replied,
my voice surprisingly steady,
devoid of any remaining affection.
"You only care because he is rich,
you only regret it because he has power,
and you never loved me at all."
My mother collapsed into loud,
ugly sobs,
sinking to the wet stone floor beside her ruined husband.
Penelope was now screaming at Julian,
hitting his chest as he tried to back away from her in shame.
The grand,
million-dollar wedding had transformed into a spectacular,
miserable circus of destruction.
Blake wrapped his arm firmly around my shoulders once more,
May you like
guiding me gently away from the pathetic,
broken remnants of my toxic family.
