Chapter 2 - The Panic of the Privileged
For three seconds, absolute silence hung in the kitchen.
Then, Chloe’s phone buzzed violently in her hand.
She looked down at the screen, her eyes widening in sheer disbelief as a red notification popped up from her banking app.
'Declined?' Chloe gasped, her face flushing a deep, furious crimson.
'Julian! My auxiliary card just got declined at the boutique down the street! What did you just do?'
'I locked your spending accounts, Chloe,' Julian replied casually, stepping past them to carry Clara toward the sink to wash her hands.
'You have lived off my father's corporate dividends for five years without working a single day. If you want to maintain a luxury lifestyle in this city, you can start paying your own way instead of leeching off my household.'
Evelyn’s face turned the color of ash.
For her entire life, she had wielded money and social status as a weapon to control everyone around her.
The idea that her own son—the golden boy of the family—was cutting off her financial lifeline was completely unimaginable.
'You are cutting off your own mother?' Evelyn whispered, her voice trembling with a mixture of rage and shock.
'Your father left me everything! You cannot touch my accounts!'
'My father left the controlling shares of the holding company to me, Mother,' Julian corrected her sharply, turning around from the sink with a towel to dry Clara's hands.
'And every single penny of your monthly stipend comes directly through my corporate signature. That signature is dry.'
Chloe let out a hysterical laugh, grabbing her designer handbag from the sofa.
'This is insane! You're letting a pregnant woman manipulate you into turning against your own flesh and blood!' she screamed, pointing an accusing finger at Elena.
'Pack your bags, Mother. We are leaving this toxic house right now. But don't expect us to ever speak to him again!'
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With a furious swirl of her silk dress, Chloe marched toward the front door, slamming it behind her with a deafening crash that echoed through the entire estate.
Evelyn glared at Julian one last time, her eyes burning with pure venom, before turning on her heel and following her daughter out into the cool evening air.
