Chapter 3
566 Words
I hung up on my mother after finally calming her down. Harrison had barely pushed out the announcement of the launch event before Serena's call came ringing through.
"Asher, I've already emailed you the divorce agreement and the voluntary asset waiver. Sign both by 5:00 this afternoon, or that slide deck was only the beginning."
I opened the file. Every line of the waiver forced me to admit to marital infidelity and domestic abuse, made me leave empty-handed, and even demanded that the old family farmhouse where my mother still lived be handed over as compensation for emotional damages.
I gave a cold laugh. The divorce papers I signed without hesitation, cutting off any legal chance of her dragging me down with her later. The second document I sent back untouched.
"I signed the divorce papers, but admit to cheating and give up my assets? Keep dreaming."
On the other end, Serena shrieked in fury. "Asher, you ungrateful piece of trash. You think a bottom-feeder like you gets to fight me for that money? Fine. You wait. I'll ruin you online, and I'll make sure your hillbilly mom finds out what kind of animal her son really is."
The line cut off with a slam.
Beside me, Harrison had just pulled up the latest tracking data and his face changed. "Mr. Thorne, the car you gave her is heading toward your hometown."
Killing intent hardened in my eyes. She hadn't just used me as a stepping stone. To wring the last drop out of me, she wouldn't even spare my mother.
I grabbed my keys and tore down the highway back to my hometown. The moment I reached the edge of the village, I saw the wooden door of the old house rattling half off its hinges. A crowd of villagers had gathered to gawk and point.
"Tsk. Martha Thorne's boy always seemed so honest. Turns out in the city he beats his wife and runs around with hookers. Serves him right to get torn apart online."
I shoved my way through and rushed inside. Richard Brooks stood there holding his phone in my mother's face, teeth bared. "What's up, chat, look at this. This is that abuser's mother. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Get me to 100000 likes and I'll be serving justice right now. I'll smash this old hag's nest to pieces."
My mother, hemmed in on all sides, was trembling like a dry leaf, shaking her head through her tears. "Stop filming. My son isn't an animal. He'd never do those things."
Rage burned straight through whatever reason I had left. I lunged forward and kicked Richard around six feet through the air, his phone flying loose and shattering on the ground.
"Get out!"
My eyes went bloodshot, and the punks with him scrambled backward. I helped my mother up. She clung to my hand, her face streaked with tears. "Asher, the grave yard, hurry! Serena said if you don't sign, she'd smash your father's stone and dump the urn into the drainage ditch!"
Something exploded in my head. I bolted to the doorway of the chapel, and what I saw split my chest wide open.
Serena was standing on a patch of clean ground outside, wearing a full disposable hazmat suit, directing Tristan. With a sickening splash, he flung a scoop of filthy mud straight at my father's urn.
- Writer
