Chapter 300 Shattered Jewels
Chapter 300 Shattered Jewels
45 Free Coins
By the time Sidonie burst through the doorway, breathless and still clutching her car keys, court officers were already filing out with velvet cases tucked under their arms. Everyst gem Trent had ever pressed into her palm was gone.
“Sidonic, those jewels were a gift from Trent. They can’t just seize them like furniture,” Xenia blurted, <b>half </b>chasing the officials down the hall. “Go find Trent–do something, say something, make this disappear<b>.</b><b>” </b>
<i>Beg </i>Trent again? <i>After </i><i>everything</i>?> <i>Color </i><i>drained </i><i>from </i><i>Sidonie’s </i>cheeks <i>until </i><i>even </i>her lipstick looked loud.
“Mom, forget Trent. The man probably nned this–he’s enjoying every second.”
“I never imagined that Quinn could be so vicious,” Xenia fumed, wringing her hands. “She’s divorced from Trent and still wants your jewels. And she even hired Weston Windore to handle it!”
“Weston Windore?” Sidonie’s breath snagged. The name alone darkened the room. Jexburgh’s undefeated barrister–no one survived his cross–examination. Whatever fragile hope she had been nursing crumbled to dust.
She gripped her mother’s sleeve like a drowning woman. “Mom, how much cash do we still have? Give me enough to fight this in court. The Border Inferno Case–I cannot lose it. I cannot go to prison.”
Xenia’s mouth pinched. “You know perfectly well we don’t keep piles of cash. A topwyer costs a fortune.”
“Then sell some property,” Sidonie pressed, words tumbling. “And, Mom, you still have jewels and handbags–you could liquidate those.”
“We can’t sell the house,” Lillian shot back. “Your father would never agree. And my trinkets won’t fetch much. Thewyers who even nced at your file said they’d need twenty million upfront–where would we find <i>that</i>?<b>” </b>
“So you’d rather watch me rot behind bars?” Sidonie’s voice cracked with fury.
“You’re pregnant,” Lillian reasoned, softer yet imcable. “Even if you do time, they’ll dy the sentence for childbirth and nursing. Pouring twenty million intowyers only to lose would be madness. Nimbus Air has dismissed you, your name is mud–how could you ever repay that?”
Sidonie stared at her mother, almost unable to breathe. “You would rather let me go to prison than spend the money? I am your daughter!”
“Exactly because you’re my daughter, Xenia snapped. “I bribed half the airline tond you that deputy- captain seat. Countless pilots still fly economy routes, yet you vaulted ahead–do you honestly think it was talent?”
Her mother’s words shattered Sidonie’s brittle pride like ss striking pavement.
“Do you realize how much shame your antics have dumped on us?” Xenia continued. “Your father and I don’t dare meet friends–everyone is whispering.”
“I did nothing wrong,” Sidonie shot back. “A cigarette butt slipped from my fingers, that’s all. Bad luck turned it into a ze. I spent years making you proud–studying when you said study, joining Nimbus Air when you insisted. Does one slip wipe out all of that?”
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Chapter 300 Shattered Jewels.
Xenia folded her arms. “Either ask Trent for help or settle for a bargain–basement attorney. <b>Your </b><b>father </b>and I refuse to sink more money into this.”
“So the savings are reserved for my brother?” Sidonic shot back. “You buy him houses and cars overseas, but you begrudge me a decentwyer?”
The crack of a p split the air.
Xenia’s palm still hovered mid–swing. “Your brother will look after us in our old age. We have <b>already </b>spent plenty on you.”
Pain blossomed across Sidonie’s check, but the ache in her chest was worse.
Sidonie had poured every drop of cunning, charm, and nerve into a single purpose: forcing the world to look up at her.
Not so long ago, she had seemed unstoppable. A top graduate of Qudnard University, the first woman <b>ever </b>to captain a Nimbus Air jet, and the object of a rising tech mogul’s devotion–her future had glittered like sunrise on ss.
She had pictured her parents finally understanding that their daughter–brighter, braver, more relentless than their golden–boy son–was the family’s true heir.
She would make the entire Stonehurst n, every conniving cousin and silver–haired elder, pronounce that the youngdy from the second branch was their one iparable treasure. <i>They </i>will see<i>. </i>They will <i>kneel </i>
Yet here, in the hush between one heartbeat and the next, all of it had turned to smoke.
All she had done was flick a cigarette butt away–carelessly, thoughtlessly, like someone tossing an after- thought into the night.
Sidonie threw her head back andughed, the sound cracking like splintered ss. Hot tears flooded her cheeks, erasing any border between rage and sorrow.
She red at her mother, each word spit like burning ash. “Treat me this way today and watch the world pay you back tomorrow. The wheel always turns–I’ll be there when it crushes you.”
And Trent Grafton? She longed for the day fate dragged him into the same abyss, just so she could witness exactly how far a proud man could fall.