Chapter 7 - The Interrogation of Fools
The grand master bedroom suddenly felt like a sterile, brightly lit courtroom.
I calmly instructed Beatrice and Clara to take a seat on the velvet bench at the foot of my bed.
They obeyed instantly, looking entirely terrified of the icy authority radiating from my posture.
Julian stood dripping wet on the expensive Persian rug, leaving a dark, miserable puddle on the woven wool.
Mia finally crawled out of the tub, wrapping herself in a bathrobe she had dared to take from my personal closet.
She stood trembling near the bathroom door, looking like a drowned, miserable rat.
I slowly paced across the room, my heels sinking slightly into the plush carpet.
I turned to Julian and asked him how exactly he planned to pay for that expensive trip to Napa Valley now.
He flinched as if I had physically struck him across the face with a heavy object.
He quietly whimpered my name, pleading with me to let us discuss this completely in private.
I laughed, a harsh, entirely humorless sound that echoed loudly in the tense room.
I firmly stated that there was absolutely no privacy left in this marriage anymore.
I reminded him that he had willingly invited another woman into our sacred space.
I pointed out that he had freely shared our home, our bed, and our expensive jacuzzi with a total stranger.
Beatrice quickly stood up, attempting to salvage her son's rapidly crumbling dignity.
She used her most soothing, manipulative tone to suggest that we should all just calm down and think rationally.
She loudly insisted that Julian was a good man who had merely stumbled along the difficult path of life.
She had the absolute audacity to tell me that a truly loving wife would find it in her heart to forgive and forget.
I slowly turned my piercing gaze toward my greedy mother-in-law.
I politely asked Beatrice if she was currently carrying the designer handbag I had purchased for her last Christmas.
She instinctively clutched the expensive leather purse tightly against her side and nodded nervously.
I calmly informed her that every single luxury she enjoyed was entirely funded by my immense success.
I looked at Clara and reminded her that I had secured her high-paying corporate position through my own personal network.
I stated very clearly that their comfortable, privileged lives were completely dependent on my continued generosity.
I watched the color violently drain from both of their faces as the brutal reality finally set in.
They slowly realized that defending Julian’s terrible infidelity meant losing their own personal bank account.
Julian fell to his bare knees on the wet carpet, clasping his hands together like a begging child.
He loudly promised that he would do absolutely anything to fix this massive, unforgivable mistake.
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I looked down at him with a chilling, absolute certainty in my eyes.
I quietly told him that the only thing he was going to do was pack his bags immediately.
