Part 15
The old Whitmore family estate stood silent under the gray evening sky,
the grand fountain in the driveway completely turned off and dry.
Inside the grand living room,
the furniture was covered in large,
white sheets,
giving the space the appearance of a tomb.
Arthur Whitmore sat on a single uncovered wooden chair,
a dusty bottle of water resting on the floor by his feet.
The front door opened with a heavy creak,
and Eleanor walked inside,
her face lined with exhaustion as she dropped her plastic shopping bags.
"The landlord of the penthouse apartment refused to talk to me,"
she said,
her voice trembling with a pathetic,
whining note.
"He said our belongings will be packed into boxes and placed on the curb by noon on Friday."
"He wouldn't even let me upstairs to get my fur coats,
Arthur."
"He said everything is tied up in the corporate asset freeze."
Arthur didn't look up,
his eyes fixed on the empty fireplace across the room.
"It doesn't matter,
Eleanor,"
he muttered,
his voice barely a whisper.
"Nothing matters anymore."
"I received a letter from the district attorney's office an hour ago."
"They are officially filing charges against me for conspiracy to commit wire fraud."
Eleanor gasped,
her hands flying to her throat as she stumbled backward onto a sheet-covered sofa.
"Charges?"
"Against you?"
"But you didn't do anything!"
"Daniel was the one who moved the money!"
"I signed the authorization forms,
Eleanor,"
Arthur roared,
finally looking up,
his eyes wide with a terrifying,
hollow despair.
"I accepted the offshore transfers into my personal account!"
"I knew it was corporate money,
and I signed it anyway because I wanted to maintain this ridiculous lifestyle!"
"We are going to jail,"
"or we are going to be completely bankrupt and homeless."
"Those are our only choices."
Tessa walked into the room from the kitchen,
holding a half-eaten sleeve of cheap crackers.
"I saw Clara today,"
she announced quietly,
her voice flat and devoid of any life.
The parents both turned to look at her,
a sudden,
desperate spark of hope lighting up Eleanor’s eyes.
"You saw her?"
Eleanor gasped,
running forward to grab Tessa’s shoulders.
"Did you speak to her?"
"Did she say she would drop the charges?"
"No,"
Tessa replied,
pulling away from her mother’s touch with a look of pure disgust.
"She didn't see me."
"She was walking out of a restaurant downtown with Julian Vance."
"She looked beautiful,
she looked happy,
and she didn't even notice me standing across the street in the rain."
"She has moved on,
mother."
"She doesn't care if we live or die in this house."
"We died to her the moment we stepped onto that airport terminal with Daniel."
Arthur let out a long,
broken sob,
his head dropping into his hands as the full weight of their self-inflicted ruin finally crushed him.
They had spent their entire lives chasing wealth,
prestige,
and social status,
sacrificing their own daughter’s happiness for a taste of luxury.
And now,
as the darkness of the evening filled the empty room,
May you like
they were left with nothing but the cold,
brutal reality of their own complete and total failure.
