Chapter 6 - The Unraveling of an Empire
Nicholas swayed on his feet. The veins in his neck were pulsing visibly under his stiff collar. Behind him, three senior partners from the venture capital firm who had drifted over to eavesdrop exchanged pointed, devastating glances before quietly turning on their heels to return to their seats, their association with my brother effectively terminated in real time.
“Jenna...” Nicholas turned to me, his voice a frantic, desperate whisper, stripped of every ounce of his former arrogance. “Jenna, tell him. Tell him we were just joking around. It was a family joke.”
I looked at my brother.
I thought about the cold dismissals, the years of patronizing smirks at Sunday dinners, the cruel little jabs designed to keep me small so he could feel tall. I thought of the light blue dress, the two months' rent spent on an espresso machine he hadn't even thanked me for, and the careless arrogance with which he had banished me to the shadows.
I picked up a green crayon, handed it to Parker, and met Nicholas’s pleading gaze with absolute, unyielding calm.
“You told me to stay at Table Nineteen, Nicholas,” I said softly, the words carrying easily across the dead silence of the hall. “You told me to eat my dinner, smile, and not embarrass you. So that’s exactly what I’m doing.”
Emmett reached into his breast pocket, drew out a sleek gold-nibbed fountain pen, and slid a folded dossier onto the edge of the butcher paper toward me.
“The European antitrust brief came in early,” Emmett said, completely dismissing my brother from the conversation as if he were an annoying gnat. “Whenever you're ready to review the messaging, name your fee. In the meantime... do you mind introducing me to Parker? I hear his dragon needs backup.”
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Nicholas stood frozen for three agonizing seconds, his chest heaving, before retreating into the crowd. He melted away like a ghost at dawn, completely dismantled in front of the very world he had sold his soul to impress.
I took a slow sip of apple juice, leaned over the paper, and began sketching the wings.
