My mom slapped my daughter and my sister yelled, 'Get out, you bastard child!' I said nothing and made one phone call. One sentence later, my whole family panicked."

The room plummeted into absolute zero.

My mother stared at me as if the laws of gravity had suddenly inverted. Her mouth opened and closed soundlessly, like a fish pulled from water.

"Marcus?" she choked out, her voice barely a whisper. "You? But... you drove a ten-year-old sedan. You wore off-the-rack suits whenever you came to Sunday dinner. You let Arthur lecture you about fiscal responsibility!"

"I drove a modest car because I value humility," I said, gently lifting Lily into my arms. She buried her wet face into the crook of my neck, her small arms clinging to me as if I were the only solid thing left in the universe. "I let Arthur lecture me because for six years, I hoped against hope that somewhere underneath the vanity and the social climbing, there was still a father in him. A grandmother in you. An aunt in Chloe."

I looked at the three of them, feeling nothing but a profound, hollow pity.

"When Sarah died giving birth to Lily," I continued, feeling the old familiar ache in my ribs, "you didn't come to the hospital. You called her a gold-digger. You told society that I had disgraced the family name by marrying an orphan. Even today, you called my daughter a bastard child because Sarah and I had a private ceremony before the state registered the paperwork."

"Marcus, please, son—" Arthur took a stumbling step forward, his hands trembling as he reached out toward me. The arrogant patriarch was gone; in his place was a terrified old man watching his entire life disintegrate. "We were stressed! You know how important Chloe’s upcoming wedding to Julian is! The Montgomery family expects a certain pedigree! We were just... tensions were high! Your mother didn't mean to strike the child! It was an accident! Evelyn, tell him!"

Evelyn, desperate and cornered, dropped to her knees on the Persian rug. The silk of her expensive dress soaked up the leftover frosting of the crushed birthday cake.

"Marcus! My baby boy!" she sobbed, tears cutting dirty tracks through her heavy makeup. "I raised you! I gave you life! How could you do this to your own flesh and blood? Over a clumsy child? Over a piece of cake?!"

Even now, on her knees, she couldn't hide her disdain for Lily. She called her a 'clumsy child.' She still thought the problem was the cake, not the cruelty rotting in her own heart.

"You didn't raise me, Evelyn," I said cold as steel. "Nannies raised me while you flew to Paris for fashion weeks. And the moment I refused to let you control my life, you cast me out. You thought you were letting me live in poverty. In reality, I spent the last ten years building Aegis Prime from the ground up overseas while you bled your own company dry."

Chloe suddenly shrieked. Her phone was ringing. The caller ID flashed: *Julian Montgomery.*

She snatched the phone to her ear, her voice frantic, hysterical. "Julian! Baby! Thank God! You need to send your family’s security team! Marcus has lost his mind, he brought thugs to the house, he’s—"

She stopped. The room was so quiet that Julian’s crisp, aristocratic voice bled through the speaker for everyone to hear.

*"Chloe, don't ever call this number again."*

"Julian? What... what are you talking about?" Chloe gasped, clutching her chest.

*"My father just called an emergency family meeting,"* Julian said, his voice laced with cold fury. *"Our family bank was just notified that Aegis Prime has pulled all underwriting for our commercial portfolio. Every loan we have is being called in within twenty-four hours unless we sever all ties with the Vance family immediately. Did you really think you could assault the daughter of Marcus Vance and marry into my family? The wedding is off. Don't come to the estate. My guards have orders to arrest you for trespassing."*

"Julian! No! Julian, I love you! I didn't know! Julian—!"

The line went dead with a harsh, robotic beep.

Chloe dropped the phone. It clattered against the hardwood, the glass screen shattering into a spiderweb of fractures. She sank to the floor beside our mother, burying her face in her hands, her shrill wails filling the vaulted room.

"Harrison," I said calmly, adjusting the soft blanket around Lily’s trembling shoulders.

"Yes, Mr. Vance?"

"Oversee the eviction personally," I commanded. "They may take their personal clothing and items purchased prior to the execution of the Aegis bailout five years ago. All jewelry, vehicles, and assets acquired using the Aegis revolving credit lines are to be cataloged and seized pending the forensic audit."

"Forensic audit?!" Arthur cried out, his voice cracking with absolute terror. "Marcus, no! You can't do an audit! That will... that will destroy Sterling Crest!"

I turned my back on them and walked toward the entrance.