Chapter 14 - The Final Severance
Elena glanced at the photograph. She remembered that day: the sun was warm, their promises seemed honest, and Marcus had not yet inherited his father’s catastrophic debts or his mother’s venomous pride.
""Burn it,"" Elena said softly.
Marcus stared at her, tears welling in his red-rimmed eyes. ""It's the only proof I have left that I was once a decent human being.""
""Then keep it as a reminder of everything you traded for an empire that collapsed like dust,"" she replied, walking steadily toward the exit.
""Elena, wait!"" Marcus cried out, his voice cracking as he followed her onto the stone terrace. ""Arthur wasn't the head of the snake! You think he acted alone? He had an international partner! The day the demolition permits were signed, someone wired five million dollars to an escrow account in your father's name!""
Elena stopped dead in her tracks, her hand resting on the wrought-iron railing.
The wind off the bay whipped her coat around her ankles. She turned around very slowly.
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""What did you say?""
Marcus smiled faintly, a desperate, pathetic glint of leverage reappearing in his defeated eyes. ""Your father's body was never found in that yacht wreck, Elena. Arthur didn't kill him. Arthur was running from him.""
