His Final Betrayal Was My First Move Chapter 32

His Final Betrayal Was My First Move Chapter 32

For Griffin, the real reckoning had only just begun.

The umbrella he had used to protect Daphne couldn’t shield him from the storm brought down by the Mercer family. Julian’s moves were precise and deadly. The Mercer family trust began a systematic hostile shorting and full-scale siege of Whitaker Venture Capital. Griffin’s company was just a rising player on Wall Street; how could it withstand the pressure of a century-old fortune bearing down on it like a mountain?

On top of that, the rage of being betrayed by Daphne had made Griffin execute several insider trades that violated SEC regulations. Those reckless actions made the already struggling investment group even more precarious.

There was no turning back.

When his lawyer informed him that filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy was irreversible, Griffin’s body, already weakened from his recent trip to the emergency room, could no longer hold up. Clutching his chest, he collapsed in his top-floor office from a sudden cardiac event.

By the time he left Massachusetts General Hospital, his company had already declared bankruptcy and was in liquidation. His Swiss bank accounts, his properties in Beacon Hill and Long Island, and his luxury cars had all been frozen by the court.

Left with nothing, Griffin had only one thought. Unwilling to admit that this was all due to his own bastard behavior and stupid choices, he wanted to pin everything on Daphne.

He went to South Boston and found the run-down apartment where she was hiding.

Daphne wasn’t doing well, either. After being driven out of the penthouse, she had tried contacting old friends, only to discover she had long since been cast out. She could only sell off her last few handbags to rent this cheap apartment where the heat barely worked.

Seeing Griffin at her door, a flicker of hope appeared in her eyes. She thought she might be able to reclaim her old dream. But his dark expression told her he hadn’t come to save her.

“You ruined me.” Griffin’s voice was hoarse, full of the viciousness of mutual destruction.

Daphne laughed, the sound sharp and mocking.

“I ruined you? Griffin, you’re a useless man who can’t handle a storm, and now you’re blaming me? Did I hold a gun to your head and make you wag your tail at me like a dog?”

“Like a dog?” His pride was completely crushed. “Wasn’t it you who kept manipulating me, constantly sending signals? If you hadn’t stirred things up, my respectable marriage with Amelia would never have ended!”

“I held out a hand and you rolled over. Is that my fault?” Daphne folded her arms and used the most vicious language to recount his “achievements.” “In Aspen, Amelia sprained her ankle, but you held me and said we were going to the hospital, only to take me back to the hotel. Did I force you?”

Griffin’s face went pale.

Daphne didn’t stop. “At the Harvard Club dinner, you abandoned her in front of all of Boston because of one phone call from me. Was I holding a knife to your throat? To satisfy your ridiculous savior complex, you left her in one humiliating situation after another, and now you’re telling me I ruined you?”

She stepped forward, her fingernails almost digging into his chest.

“Stop lying to yourself, Griffin. You never really loved me. You only loved the version of yourself who was always saving me. You enjoyed that superior feeling. You enjoyed the drama of abandoning everything to run toward ‘true love.’ Amelia’s decency bored you, so you needed me, this constant trouble, to prove how grand and passionate your life was!”

Every sentence was a scorching knife, peeling away his hypocritical shell and exposing the cowardly, selfish, narcissistic core inside.

Daphne stripped him bare, leaving him speechless.

So that was it.

Standing in that shabby, mold-smelling room, for the first time, he saw himself from an outsider’s perspective, listening as Daphne used the cruelest words to describe every crime he had committed against Amelia.

Only then did he understand what a bastard he had been.

He was the one who had wronged Amelia. He had torn apart their marriage vows with his own hands. It was all his own fault, his own narcissism, and he could blame no one.