Chapter 11 - The Breaking Point
The winter of the second year was brutal.
Snow piled up around the cabin, isolating me in a beautiful, frozen world.
One evening, my landline phone rang loudly in the quiet kitchen.
I hesitated before picking it up.
"Hello?" I answered carefully.
"Mom?"
It was Marcus.
His voice sounded incredibly rough, like he had been crying for days.
"What is it, Marcus?" I asked, keeping my tone entirely neutral.
"She left me, Mom."
The words hung in the air, heavy and loaded with exhaustion.
"Chloe left?" I asked, feeling a strange mix of relief and pity.
"She met some guy at a bar who drives a Porsche," he confessed, his voice breaking.
"She packed her bags yesterday and served me with divorce papers this morning."
"She took whatever cash we had left in the checking account."
I closed my eyes, leaning against the kitchen counter.
"I'm sorry, Marcus."
"I have nothing, Mom. I have absolutely nothing left."
"I was so stupid."
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"I let her blind me, and I let her treat you like garbage."
He broke down sobbing into the phone, the sound echoing in my quiet kitchen.
