Chapter 19 - The Final Meeting
Ten days before the judge was scheduled to sign the final divorce decree, Eric texted me.
Please. Just five minutes. Face to face. I won't ask for anything. I just need to say goodbye.
Against Denise’s advice, I agreed. I needed closure. I needed to look him in the eye one last time as a free woman.
We met at a small, dimly lit coffee shop in Midtown. It was pouring rain outside, ironically similar to the night of the red basin.
Eric was already sitting in a booth when I arrived. He looked utterly defeated. The Wall Street playboy persona was dead and buried.
“Thank you for coming,” he said quietly, wrapping his hands around a mug of black coffee.
“You have five minutes, Eric.”
He nodded, looking down at the table. “I’m sorry, Claire. For everything. I let my mother get into my head. I let the money change me. I was so insecure about how successful you were, I tried to tear you down to make myself feel bigger.”
It was the most honest thing he had said in years.
“You didn’t just tear me down,” I said. “You tried to steal from me. You tried to humiliate me. You plotted with your mother to take my home.”
“I know,” he whispered, tears forming in his eyes. “And I lost everything because of it. I’m broke. I’m blacklisted in the finance industry. I’m living in a basement in Queens. You won, Claire. You destroyed me.”
“I didn’t destroy you, Eric. I just stopped funding your illusion. You destroyed yourself.”
I stood up, adjusting my coat. I felt lighter than I had in years. The heavy weight of his entitlement was finally off my shoulders.
“Goodbye, Eric.”
I turned to walk away.
May you like
“Claire, wait,” Eric said, his voice suddenly shifting. The sadness vanished, replaced by something cold and desperate.
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