Chapter 10 - The Fall of the House of Varelli
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Three weeks passed like an arctic winter that refused to thaw.
Silas threw himself into damage control, working twenty hours a day to prevent the Varelli stock from plummeting.
He fired seventy people connected to Grant’s network.
He dismantled every single holding company Sabrina Cole had touched.
He made massive public donations to restore the reputation of the children's clinic.
Yet, every night he returned to the hollow house by the Hudson, unable to sleep in the master bedroom they had shared.
He called Laurel's phone fifty times a day.
Every call went directly to an automated voicemail that had never been set up.
He sent bouquets of white roses to her old studio, to her sister's house in Boston, to every luxury hotel in Manhattan.
Every single delivery was returned unopened.
On a Tuesday morning, Silas’s personal lawyer, Arthur Pendelton, walked into his office with a somber face.
"Did you find her?" Silas demanded, leaping out of his chair.
"I didn't have to find her, Silas," Arthur said, laying a single envelope on the desk.
"Her legal counsel served us an hour ago."
Silas stared at the paper.
The words Petition for Dissolution of Marriage looked black and toxic against the legal parchment.
"She wants half?" Silas asked, his jaw clenching.
"I’ll give her everything."
"I’ll sign over the real estate, the trusts, the stock options."
"Tell her she can have the entire company if she meets with me once."
Arthur shook his head slowly.
"Read the terms, Silas."
Silas pulled out the contract and skimmed the clauses with wide, disbelieving eyes.
"She isn't asking for fifty percent," Arthur explained softly.
"She isn't asking for alimony, spousal support, or a settlement."
"She is waiving every single financial claim to the Varelli fortune."
"She wants zero dollars."
Silas looked up, his face drained of all color.
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"Why?"
"Because," Arthur said quietly, "she told her attorney that taking your money would mean acknowledging that the last fifteen years had a price."
