Chapter 9 - THE ASHFORD COLLAPSE
The weeks that followed were a whirlwind of legal battles and social shifts.
The news of the Ashford downfall had spread through Charleston like a tidal wave.
Without their money,
their invitations were rescinded.
Without their status,
their friends vanished.
Nathan was spotted living in a small apartment above a garage,
working a job in retail that he hated.
Vivian had moved in with a distant relative who treated her like a servant.
Sloane had tried to sell her diamonds,
only to find out they were lab-grown—another secret the trust had kept.
I watched it all from a distance,
unmoved by their suffering.
They had spent their lives building a house of cards,
and it had finally blown over.
One afternoon,
I was at the foundation office when a visitor arrived.
It was Nathan.
He looked terrible—his suit was wrinkled,
his hair was unkempt,
and he had lost weight.
He didn't look like an Ashford.
He looked like the poor man he had always accused me of being.
“Madison,
please,”
he said,
standing in the doorway of my office.
“I just want to talk.”
I didn't invite him in.
I stayed behind my desk,
the one that once belonged to my grandmother.
“We have nothing to talk about,
Nathan.”
“The divorce is being finalized next week.”
“I’ll give you a million dollars,”
he said,
his voice desperate.
“Just to drop the lawsuit against the trust.”
“I don't need a million dollars,
Nathan.”
“I have the bank.”
He looked at the floor,
his shoulders slumped in defeat.
“I really did love you,
you know.”
“In the beginning.”
“In the beginning,
you loved the idea of me,”
I corrected.
“You loved having a project.”
“But when the project grew into a person,”
“you couldn't handle it.”
I stood up and walked to the window.
“Go home,
Nathan.”
“Wherever that is now.”
He turned and walked away,
his footsteps slow and heavy.
As he left,
I felt the final string of my old life snap.
I wasn't Madison Ashford anymore.
I was Madison Brooks.
May you like
And I was finally sitting at the only table that mattered.
The one I had built for myself.
