Chapter 6 - The Unraveling
Celeste Harrington gasped, covering her mouth with both hands, stepping three paces away from Evelyn as if the woman were covered in poison.
Dr. Harrison’s jaw dropped. He looked at the tablet, then at Evelyn, his professional composure completely shattered.
Evelyn stared at the screen. The teacup finally slipped from her fingers, crashing against the marble floor, spraying hot tea and porcelain shards across her expensive shoes.
"That... that is an optical illusion," Evelyn stammered, her voice high and cracking, the pristine veneer finally tearing apart. "It was an accident! She slipped, Julian! I tried to catch her! The angle of the camera is wrong—"
"The camera was installed three months ago," Julian said softly. "In the light fixture directly above the landing. I put it there because I knew you were cruel, Evelyn. I wanted to make sure you never spoke harshly to my wife when I was out of the room. I never imagined... I never dreamed you were a monster."
"Julian, please!" Evelyn reached out, her hands shaking violently, trying to grab his sleeve. "I did it for you! For the family! She was nobody! She was ruining our lineage! You belong with women like Celeste—"
"Do not speak her name," Julian snarled, his voice breaking into a roar that echoed through the entire hospital wing.
He turned to the Senior Director.
"Effective immediately," Julian commanded, "strip Evelyn Armitage of all access to family accounts. Freeze the Armitage House maintenance funds. Evict her from the premises by midnight. Every car, every piece of jewelry purchased with trust funds, every card bearing the family name—repossess them."
"No!" Evelyn shrieked. "You can't do this to me! I am an Armitage!"
"You are nothing," Julian said, his eyes devoid of pity. "And as for her accomplices..."
He looked directly at Celeste Harrington and her father.
"Harrington Capital's credit lines with Armitage Global are terminated as of this second," Julian said smoothly. "My legal team will file short-position trades against your firm before the Asian markets open tonight. By tomorrow morning, your family will be as broke as you believed my wife was."
Celeste’s father turned white as chalk. "Julian! Mr. Armitage! Please! We had no part in this! We didn't know!"
"You sat in this hall and called my wife a nobody," Julian said coldly. "That was your choice."
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He nodded to two city police officers who had stepped through the double doors behind his security team.
"Officers," Julian said, pointing a single finger at his mother. "That woman attempted to murder my wife and my unborn child. The video evidence has already been sent to the District Attorney's personal email. Take her out of my sight."
