Chapter 5 - The Collapse
Without my financial backing, Derek’s house of cards collapsed entirely by the weekend.
His private lenders didn't care about his excuses. With his office gone and his assets frozen, they filed massive civil suits against him for breach of contract and fraud. The local news even picked up a small blurb about a local "broker" under investigation for mishandling client funds.
Chloe tried to show up at my house on Sunday morning.
She stood at the gate—the very same gate she had locked her mother out of a week prior. It was pouring rain. She wasn't wearing designer clothes; she was wearing an old raincoat, sobbing.
Mary stood by the window in the living room, watching her. My wife’s heart was huge, and I saw the conflict tearing her apart.
"Do you want me to let her in, Mary?" I asked softly.
Mary watched the rain fall on our daughter. She remembered standing on the other side of those iron bars, humiliated, terrified, and abandoned.
Mary slowly shook her head. "She isn't crying because she hurt me, Robert. She’s crying because she got caught."
I walked out to the gate holding an umbrella.
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"Dad, please," Chloe begged, gripping the iron bars. "Derek is talking about filing for bankruptcy. He’s blaming me! He says if I had just gotten the deed correctly, none of this would have happened! Let me come home."
"This isn't your home anymore, Chloe," I said, my voice steady. "You made your bed with that man. Now you have to lie in it."
