The Poisonous Marriage's Final Breath

The Poisonous Marriage's Final Breath

Gavin

5.0
Comment(s)
12
View
12
Chapters

My grandfather, Arthur, was a poison. He sucked the air out of every room he entered, leaving a trail of broken people, including my grandmother whose heart gave out too soon, and my father and aunt, constantly torn down by his biting criticism. At his 80th birthday party, despite my optimistic efforts-a magnificent cake and a thoughtful gift-he publicly humiliated me, sneering at my bakery and calling me a "cripple," then physically shoved me to the floor, injuring my arm. This act finally broke my father' s decades of suppressed rage. He roared, sent my carefully baked cake flying against the wall, and vowed to kill Arthur if he ever touched me again. The family, witnessing his monstrous cruelty, finally united against him, with Aunt Carol sobbing and calling him a monster, especially after he cruelly mocked the memory of Uncle David, who died saving Arthur' s life. I was stunned, then enraged, watching his self-pitying performance. How could a man so toxic, so utterly devoid of empathy, continue to inflict such pain on the people who were supposed to love him? With nothing left to lose, we cut him off entirely, expecting his retaliation. What we didn' t expect was for him to take his malice public on a livestream, only to be exposed by an unexpected truth-teller, leading to his swift, ironic downfall.

Introduction

My grandfather, Arthur, was a poison. He sucked the air out of every room he entered, leaving a trail of broken people, including my grandmother whose heart gave out too soon, and my father and aunt, constantly torn down by his biting criticism.

At his 80th birthday party, despite my optimistic efforts-a magnificent cake and a thoughtful gift-he publicly humiliated me, sneering at my bakery and calling me a "cripple," then physically shoved me to the floor, injuring my arm.

This act finally broke my father' s decades of suppressed rage. He roared, sent my carefully baked cake flying against the wall, and vowed to kill Arthur if he ever touched me again. The family, witnessing his monstrous cruelty, finally united against him, with Aunt Carol sobbing and calling him a monster, especially after he cruelly mocked the memory of Uncle David, who died saving Arthur' s life.

I was stunned, then enraged, watching his self-pitying performance. How could a man so toxic, so utterly devoid of empathy, continue to inflict such pain on the people who were supposed to love him?

With nothing left to lose, we cut him off entirely, expecting his retaliation. What we didn' t expect was for him to take his malice public on a livestream, only to be exposed by an unexpected truth-teller, leading to his swift, ironic downfall.

Continue Reading

Other books by Gavin

More
When Love Rebuilds From Frozen Hearts

When Love Rebuilds From Frozen Hearts

Short stories

5.0

On the night of my career-defining art exhibition, I stood completely alone. My husband, Dante Sovrano, the most feared man in Chicago, had promised he wouldn’t miss it for the world. Instead, he was on the evening news. He was shielding another woman—his ruthless business partner—from a downpour, letting his own thousand-dollar suit get soaked just to protect her. The headline flashed below them, calling their new alliance a "power move" that would reshape the city. The guests at my gallery immediately began to whisper. Their pitying looks turned my greatest triumph into a public spectacle of humiliation. Then his text arrived, a cold, final confirmation of my place in his life: “Something came up. Isabella needed me. You understand. Business.” For four years, I had been his possession. A quiet, artistic wife kept in a gilded cage on the top floor of his skyscraper. I poured all my loneliness and heartbreak onto my canvases, but he never truly saw my art. He never truly saw me. He just saw another one of his assets. My heart didn't break that night. It turned to ice. He hadn't just neglected me; he had erased me. So the next morning, I walked into his office and handed him a stack of gallery contracts. He barely glanced up, annoyed at the interruption to his empire-building. He snatched the pen and signed on the line I’d marked. He didn’t know the page tucked directly underneath was our divorce decree. He had just signed away his wife like she was nothing more than an invoice for art supplies.

You'll also like

Chapters
Read Now
Download Book