Chapter 11 - The Fall of Allison
Six months after the wedding scandal.
In a modest two-bedroom apartment on the outskirts of Boston, Allison sat at a small kitchen table, staring at a stack of unpaid electricity bills.
Her life as a high-society socialite was completely over. Without her father’s wealth or Edward Vance’s proposal, her high-profile friends had abandoned her entirely. She was forced to take a job as a junior receptionist at a local real estate firm just to pay her rent.
Her phone rang on the table. She picked it up frantically, seeing her father's name on the screen.
"Dad?" Allison asked desperately. "Did the lawyer find any way to reclaim the trust money?"
"No, Allison," Richard’s tired, broken voice came through the speaker. "The judge dismissed our appeal today. The court ruled that every transaction Meredith made was completely legal. We have to sell the remaining jewelry to pay off our legal fees."
Allison dropped her phone onto the table, covering her face as she wept in silence.
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She remembered the night at the Ritz-Carlton—how she had laughed while pouring red wine over Meredith’s dress, how she had called her a "pathetic, lonely liar."
She realized now that Meredith had never been lonely or helpless. Meredith had possessed the true strength, beauty, and dignity that money could never buy.
