Chapter 7 - Whispers in the Country Club
By mid-February, the social shockwaves of the Vance family collapse had thoroughly reverberated through the high-society circles of the city.
At the exclusive Riverwood Country Club, where Arthur and Evelyn Vance had once reigned as untouchable royalty, the whispers were relentless. Members who had curried favor with Arthur for decades now politely looked the other way when he walked through the dining room.
Arthur looked ten years older. His posture, once rigid and imposing, was permanently slumped, his tailored suits hanging loosely off a frame that had rapidly withered under the stress of impending bankruptcy and public humiliation. Evelyn had stopped coming to the club altogether, retreating behind the heavy, drawn draperies of a modest two-bedroom rental apartment on the north side of town—the only property the bank had permitted them to lease after the forced liquidation of Elmwood Terrace.
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Brent had moved into a cramped bachelor apartment near the train station, his marriage officially dissolved and his corporate reputation permanently stained. He had tried calling Julia’s office twice from burner phones, but her executive assistant had standing instructions to forward any such communications directly to the legal department.
The golden castle had fallen—not because of an external economic crash, but because its foundation had always been built on sand, arrogance, and the emotional starvation of the people who loved them.
