Chapter 4: The House of Cards
The final week was a whirlwind of legal maneuvering.
The prosecution, armed with the evidence Marcus had provided, didn't need to work hard. Elena and Jackson turned on each other within forty-eight hours. Elena claimed Jackson manipulated her; Jackson claimed Elena had promised him the world if he helped her drain the accounts.
It was a pathetic, messy dissolution of a toxic union.
Marcus sat in his lawyer’s office, signing the divorce papers. It felt like shedding a layer of dead skin. He looked at the window, watching the rain hit the glass. He had lost his marriage, his home, and his peace of mind, but he had saved his daughter.
"What about the house?" the lawyer asked.
"Sell it," Marcus said. "I don't want the memories. I don't want the foundation. I want a fresh start."
He returned to the rental he was staying in to find Chloe waiting for him. She was painting. Her arm was healing, but the trauma was fading.
"Dad?" she asked, looking up from her canvas. "Are they going to jail?"
"For a long time, Chloe," he said gently. "They chose a path of greed. Now they’ll have the rest of their lives to think about it."
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"I missed you," she said, finally dropping the brush. "I missed the Dad who wasn't angry."
Marcus looked at his hands—the same hands that had held a rifle, the same hands that had rebuilt a life. He knelt by her chair. "I am sorry I wasn't here, Chloe. I was protecting the wrong things. I was protecting a life that didn't love us back. From now on, it’s just us. And that’s a fortress no one can break."
