Chapter 4

Mark's voice was frantic on the phone later that evening.

"Sarah, please. You have to come. They... they wrecked the place. Dad's beside himself. Kevin's hiding."

I let him plead for a few minutes.

"Why should I, Mark? We're divorced. Your family made it very clear I'm not welcome."

"Please, Sarah! It's about... something of yours. Something valuable. It could help with Kevin's debt."

I knew instantly what he meant. My late mother's vintage designer handbag. A classic, worth a small fortune, but more importantly, my last tangible connection to her. I'd foolishly gifted it to Mark sentimentally early in our marriage, a gesture he clearly never valued beyond its monetary worth.

"Meet me at your parents' house in an hour," I said, my voice cold. "And Mark? Don't try anything stupid."

I called Maria. "Get the bodyguards. We're going to the Carters'."

The Carter home was a disaster zone. Furniture overturned, glass shattered, a scene of violent desperation.

Brenda was weeping hysterically in a corner. Tom looked grey and defeated. Kevin was nowhere to be seen.

Mark rushed towards me, his eyes wild. "Sarah! Thank God! The handbag, your mother's handbag. We can sell it. It's worth enough to pay them off, at least for now!"

He gestured towards the mantelpiece, where the handbag sat, miraculously untouched amidst the chaos.

My two bodyguards, imposing and silent, flanked me.

I walked slowly towards the mantelpiece.

"You think you can use my mother's memory to bail out your degenerate brother?"

Mark flinched. "Sarah, please, we're desperate!"

"Desperation is a funny thing, Mark. It makes people show their true colors."

I picked up the handbag, its familiar leather cool beneath my fingers.

"This handbag," I said, my voice ringing with clarity, "is mine. It was a gift, given in good faith, to a man I thought loved me. Clearly, I was mistaken."

I turned to face them, my gaze sweeping over their ruined living room, their ruined faces.

"And as for my company, Innovatech? It was never in trouble. The investor pulling out? A fabrication. Bankruptcy? A lie."

Their jaws dropped. Brenda stopped crying, her mouth agape. Tom stared in disbelief.

Mark looked like I'd slapped him. "What... what are you saying?"

"I'm saying, Mark, that I played you. All of you. I needed to see just how low you would stoop. And you didn't disappoint."

I held up the divorce papers. "These terms are final. I owe you nothing. My child is solely mine. You will have no claim on her, or on my assets."

Brenda found her voice, a screech of fury. "You... you tricked us! You liar!"

"Did I? Or did I simply hold up a mirror to your own greed and cruelty?"

Mark lunged forward, "Give me that bag, Sarah! We need it!"

My bodyguards stepped in front of me, blocking him effortlessly.

"It's over, Mark," I said, turning to leave. "You made your choices. Now live with them."

The sound of their enraged shouts followed me out the door.