Chapter 8 - The Cost of Pride
Following the disastrous shareholder summit, Victoria Sterling found herself entirely cut off from the society she had dominated. Stripped of her allowances and shunned by the very elite who once fawned over her, she sought refuge in her family’s country home upstate.
One rainy afternoon, Marcus arrived at her estate. Victoria answered the door herself, the absence of household staff already showing in the disarray of the foyer. She wore no makeup, and her silk robe was rumpled.
"Have you come to gloat, Marcus?" she asked bitterly, leaning against the doorframe. "You and your little saint destroyed my life."
"You destroyed your own life, Victoria," Marcus replied steadily, stepping into the hall. "I came here because my grandmother and yours were dear friends, and out of respect for that history, I will offer you one truth before I close this door permanently."
Victoria scoffed, folding her arms. "I don't need your charity."
"You believed that power is measured by who you can step on without consequence," Marcus said, his voice imbued with genuine pity. "You thought Elena was nothing because she had no title and no fortune. But Elena possessed the one thing you never bothered to cultivate: genuine worth. You threw my son to the floor to prove a point about status, but all you proved was how utterly bankrupt your soul was."
Victoria stared at him, her lips trembling slightly as Marcus placed a simple envelope on the hall table.
May you like
"Your grandmother set up a modest annuity for you. It requires you to work thirty hours a week at a charitable foundation if you wish to draw from it. Learn what service means, Victoria. Perhaps then you will understand what it means to be human."
Marcus turned and walked out into the rain, leaving Victoria standing alone in the hollow quiet of her empty manor.
