“That will bankrupt us!” Kenneth screamed.
“You should have thought about that,” my father replied, “before your family assaulted my daughter.”
My father wasn’t done. “Also, Howard, have the legal team file assault charges against Clarissa and Natasha Hayes. We have video evidence from multiple angles.”
“No!” Clarissa shrieked, falling to her knees beside her son. “Please! We’ll lose everything!”
Natasha tried to approach me, mascara running down her face. “Emma, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean it! We were just joking!”
“You ripped my dress,” I said coldly. “You laughed. That wasn’t a joke. That was cruelty.”
I looked at the crowd. The people who had laughed were now terrified, hiding their phones, looking at the floor.
“There is nothing you can do,” I told them. “You showed me exactly who you are. And now the whole world knows too.”
My father took my arm. “Let’s go home, Emma.”
We walked toward the doors. The silence was absolute.
Brandon crawled forward a few inches. “Emma, please! I love you!”
I stopped at the threshold. I didn’t turn around.
“You don’t love me, Brandon,” I said. “You love the idea of money. There is a difference.”
We left them there, amidst the ruin of their own making.
The fallout was catastrophic and swift.
