I left my office, the automatic glass doors parted with a soft hiss, and entered the spacious lobby with a marble floor.
Thomas stood near the security desk. The past twelve months had not been kind to him. The once arrogant, measured businessman was gone. He looked a decade older, his posture slumped, his suit slightly creased and out of style. The lawsuit he had filed exposed years of his financial mismanagement. His logistics company had declared bankruptcy just months after the public scandal surrounding my graduation. Victoria, true to form, had filed for divorce the moment the bank accounts were frozen, taking what little cash she had left and moving to Florida with Haley.
It was completely, completely broken.
When he saw me walking toward him, flanked by security, his bloodshot eyes widened. He looked at my pristine white coat, at the enormous steel letters spelling out my name on the wall behind me.
“Clara… please,” Thomas whispered, his voice trembling with pathetic, raw desperation. He took a step forward, but the security guard placed a hand on his chest, stopping him. “Clara, I’m your father. I made a terrible mistake. I was blind. But I’m homeless. The bank is going to repossess my apartment tomorrow. Just… just sign one letter of recommendation for me. Introduce me to Elias Thorne. You have so much power now, so much influence. Please, save my life.”
I stopped a few feet away from him. I looked at the man who had pushed me out into the freezing rain, who had tried to steal my mother's legacy to build a TikTok studio. I searched my heart for a flicker of anger, or perhaps a lingering drop of hatred.
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