Chapter 9 - The Final Severance
“Patrick?” my mother stammered, confusion and panic warring in her voice. “Put Clara on the phone right now! This is none of your business!”
“It is entirely my business,” Patrick replied smoothly, the cinematic realism of his absolute authority paralyzing her through the phone. “Because Vanguard Sterling Capital owns that hotel. And my boutique finance firm owns the three million dollars in debt you've racked up pretending to be rich.”
A suffocating, dead silence fell over the line.
“You... you're Vanguard?” my mother whispered, the horrific, apocalyptic reality finally crashing down on her. The blue-collar handyman she had mocked, insulted, and belittled for five years was the billionaire holding the leash to her entire existence.
“You told my wife that my son’s life was an inconvenience,” Patrick stated, his voice completely devoid of mercy. “You told her you were cutting her off. So, I decided to do the exact same thing to you.”
“Patrick, please!” my mother begged, the arrogant matriarch completely evaporating into a weeping, pathetic coward. “I was just stressed about the party! I didn't mean it! Clara, baby, tell him I didn't mean it! We're family!”
I leaned closer to the phone. The hollow feeling in my chest was completely gone, replaced by a profound, unshakeable peace.
“You only turn eighteen once, Mom,” I said coldly. “Enjoy the dark.”
I reached out and ended the call.
May you like
I didn't block her number. I completely deleted her contact. I turned my phone off and tossed it into the trash can next to the hospital bed. The toxic, parasitic weight I had carried for twenty-nine years was permanently gone.
👉 We left the monsters in the dark, and focused entirely on the miracle happening in the hospital bed.
