👉 Previous Decision: Arthur’s corporate empire collapses under market panic and bank freezes.
The news showed Arthur Halloway, a broken man, leaving the now-shuttered Apex Analytics headquarters. His face, once so proud and unyielding, was hollow. His corporate empire had crumbled to dust, leaving him with nothing but insolvency and public disgrace. The fifty-million-dollar daily transactions had stopped. The severed floor was empty, its purpose exposed.
But the collapse had another casualty: my marriage.
I found Maya sitting alone in our apartment, her face stained with tears. She didn’t look up when I entered. The television blared, showing Arthur’s disgraced image.
“He lost everything, Leo,” she whispered, her voice raw. “Our house, his reputation. Everything.”
“He was laundering money, Maya,” I said softly, sitting beside her. “He used me. He used everyone. It was wrong.”
She turned to me, her eyes blazing with a pain I hadn’t seen before. “He’s still my father. And you… you destroyed him. You destroyed my family.” She pushed herself up, clutching a small bag she’d packed. “I can’t look at you. Not after this.”
“Maya, please,” I reached for her arm, but she flinched away.
“You took everything from me,” she choked out, her voice breaking. “My father might be a criminal, but you betrayed our trust. You betrayed me.” She walked to the door, her shoulders shaking. “I’m going to my aunt’s. I don’t know when I’ll be back. If ever.”
The door clicked shut, leaving me in the echoing silence of the apartment, the blaring television the only witness to the wreckage of my life. Arthur had fallen, his corrupt empire dissolved, but the cost was everything I had built with Maya. The truth had come at a price I hadn’t anticipated: absolute solitude.
➡️ Read CHAPTER 11A to continue the story
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