Chapter 6 - The Unraveling of Jessica VanceWhile Brendan sat defeated and Diane stared blankly at the wall, Jessica was falling apart in the corner of the living room.
For twenty-four hours a day, Jessica’s entire existence had been curated for social media, high-society gossip columns, and executive networking events. She lived for the approval of people who only loved her for her wallet. Now, with her corporate Amex declined, her designer wardrobe packed into cardboard boxes, and her name flagged in the Vertex Global internal compliance registry, her entire social network was evaporating in real time.
She was frantically scrolling through her phone, dialing every wealthy acquaintance, influencer friend, and high-profile executive she had posted photos with over the past year.
“Hey, Chloe? Yeah, it’s me, Jessica,” she whispered into the phone, her voice cracking with desperate urgency. “Listen, I’m in a bit of a weird situation with my housing—some ridiculous administrative glitch with Vertex—and I was wondering if I could crash in your guest house for a few days while—hello? Chloe?”
The line went dead.
Jessica stared at the screen in disbelief. She dialed another number.
“Marcus? Hey, babe, my corporate phone got temporarily locked out, but—what do you mean don’t call this number anymore? Marcus, we were just at the yacht club last weekend! Marcus? Hello?”
Click.
Another rejection. In the cutthroat world of corporate elite society, loyalty was a currency tied directly to power and capital. The moment the capital vanished, the friendships disappeared even faster.
I walked over, my footsteps making a soft, steady sound against the hardwood. I stopped a few feet away from where Jessica sat huddled on the velvet armchair.
“Looking for a lifeline, Jessica?” I asked, my voice calm and even.
Jessica looked up, her mascara running down her cheeks in dark, jagged streaks. Her catalog smile was entirely gone, replaced by raw, venomous hatred.
“You did this,” she hissed, her voice trembling with rage. “You planned this entire thing. You sat there acting like a helpless, pathetic charity case just so you could pull the rug out from under us! You’re a monster, Cassidy!”
“A monster?” I tilted my head, letting out a quiet, humorless laugh. “Jessica, three weeks ago, you posted a photo of me at a public charity luncheon with the caption: ‘Some people just don’t know how to dress for high society. Bless her heart, she looks like she wandered in from a charity shelter.’ You made it your mission to humiliate me every time we crossed paths. You mocked my clothes, my pregnancy, and my quiet life. And tonight, your future mother-in-law dumped freezing, filthy ice water over my head while I was carrying a child. And you laughed. You stood there and laughed.”
Jessica swallowed hard, her defiance faltering under the heavy weight of truth.
“We thought you had nothing,” Jessica whispered, her voice barely a squeak.
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“That’s your primary flaw, Jessica,” I replied quietly. “You only measure a person’s worth by what’s visible on the surface. You never bothered to look beneath the labels.”
I turned my back on her and walked toward the foyer, leaving her alone with her silence and her empty phone screen.
