Chapter 10 - Echoes of the Past
Eleanor sank into the leather chair, her hands trembling as she smoothed down the lapel of her coat. The woman who had once looked down her nose at my freelance typing and criticized my housekeeping was now a ghost of her former self, stripped of the social armor that money and status had provided.
"Luca won't let anyone visit him except his court-appointed attorney," Eleanor began, her voice thick with unshed tears. "The prison is three hours upstate. They took our home, they froze our bank accounts, and my friends... my friends won't even return my phone calls."
I listened in silence, resting my hands flat against the mahogany desk. I felt no satisfaction, no burst of vindication—only a cold, detached clarity.
"I am sorry for what happened to your living situation, Eleanor," I said evenly. "But you are looking in the wrong place for sympathy. When Luca systematically drained my accounts, forged documents, and conspired with Chloe Ruiz to throw me and my children onto the street, you didn't call to check on your grandchildren. You defended him. You called me ungrateful."
Eleanor flinched as if struck. "He’s my son! What was I supposed to do?"
"You could have taught him integrity," I replied, standing up slowly and walking over to the floor-to-ceiling window. "Instead, you taught him that entitlement is a birthright and that women are disposable tools to be used and discarded. That is why he is in a federal penitentiary, and that is why you are sitting here alone."
She looked up, her eyes swimming with desperation. "I need help, Jessi. Just a small loan... somewhere to stay. I have nowhere else to go."
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I turned back to face her, my expression unwavering. "My foundation helps women who have been discarded by men like your son. If you apply through the proper channels like anyone else, housing assistance will review your case. But I will not fund your lifestyle, Eleanor, and I will not erase the consequences of the choices your family made."
Eleanor stared at me for a long, heavy moment, finally realizing that the obedient, shrinking housewife she had known for over a decade was gone forever. Without another word, she stood up, grabbed her bag, and walked out of the office, the heavy door clicking shut behind her.
