Elaine's Fury: The Woman Reborn

foolishness. The perfect family. The loving father, the beautiful m

myself. The sight of them together, so effortlessly happy, was a physical

have much time. The grief, the rage, the humi

oss the trackpad. I

s untouchable. He had folders hidden, but not hidden wel

s" contained another on

lic

hing and celebrating. Holiday trips to Aspen, weekends in Napa. Every "business trip" Cole had ever taken, every "boys' wee

ty deeds and utility bills for a house in a quiet, wealthy

bought her a home. A beautiful, four-bedr

ed to cry. Tears were a lux

e folder that would

abeled "

ed file for a trust fund. A very, ver

unding source was a shell corporation I'd never heard of. But I recognized the transaction patterns. I' d seen

d as a lawyer I knew. He was my mother' s personal attorney. The funds were being funneled from a

's and my

s, who cried tears of joy at my engagement party. She knew. She had been signing the checks

ame. And if she knew, my father, Gabriel, the master

laid on the altar of Stewart Dynamics to appease the w

ails digging into my palm

ad a child. He never intended to have a family with me. Our discussions about the future, about childr

plugged it into his laptop. The transfer began. Photos, videos,

evidence anymore.

ation popped up in the corner of the

uliette

The Cha

cold. I cli

s the full, unedited recording of the video call I had received a snippet of earli

king out flowers and tasting cakes. It's almost sad. My sweet, naive charity case cousin, holding

all, a smug smile on his lips. He didn't

ce dripping with condescension. "She's playing

tion confirmed that every single one of

ive charity case. Cole thou

anthropic daughter and missed the steel underneath. The same intelligence, the same s

ve them a performance t

e, my fingers closing around i

ith a precision that would have made our head of cybersecurity proud. I sl

rkness, the hard driv

s' meeting was

tdown ha