Chapter 5 - The Price of the Past
Daniel fell to his knees on the carpeted floor of the boardroom. The arrogant man who had walked out the door with a suitcase was completely gone, replaced by a sobbing, broken shell of a human being.
“Please, Elena,” Daniel wept, tears streaming down his face as he reached out toward me. “I’m sorry. I was a coward. I was overwhelmed. Let me make it right. Please, just let me see my daughters. Let me be a father to Emma and Sophie. I beg you.”
The mention of my daughters' names made my blood run cold.
I stood up, towering over him, radiating a protective, maternal fury that could have leveled a city.
“Do not ever speak their names again,” I whispered, my voice vibrating with lethal promise. “You legally signed away your parental rights five years ago to avoid paying a single cent of child support. You do not have daughters, Daniel. Emma and Sophie have a mother who built an empire to ensure they would never, ever have to rely on a weak, pathetic man like you.”
I looked at the two Apex executives, who were staring at Daniel with utter disgust.
“Sign the paperwork,” I commanded them. “And get this trash out of my boardroom.”
I turned my back on Daniel and walked toward the heavy oak doors. I didn't look back as the security guards entered the room, hauling a sobbing, screaming Daniel to his feet. He was dragged out of the building, stripped of his job, his dignity, and any delusional hope he had left of ever returning to the family he had thrown away.
I walked back into my corner office, the afternoon sun warming my face. I picked up a framed photograph from my desk. It was a picture of Emma and Sophie, laughing on a beach in Hawaii, their smiles bright and completely untouched by sorrow.
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Daniel had thought he was leaving behind a heavy burden. He thought he was escaping to a life of freedom and success. He didn't realize that the burden he walked away from was the very foundation of his entire existence.
He had walked out into the dark, and I had built the sun.
