Chapter 35
The summer heat settled over the bustling downtown financial district, turning the asphalt into a shimmering mirror under the cloudless sky. Garrett Richmond walked aimlessly down the crowded sidewalk, his posture slumped and his eyes fixed on the pavement to avoid recognizing anyone from his former high-society life. Every avenue of escape had been permanently blocked; the bankruptcy court had officially seized his personal bank accounts, liquidated his remaining luxury assets, and issued a formal injunction restricting his access to credit lines. Without a degree, a stable career history, or marketable professional skills beyond superficial networking and self-promotion, he found himself rejected from every entry-level corporate job he applied for. Desperation gnawed at his stomach as he pulled his phone out of his pocket to check his remaining cash balance—twenty-four dollars and fifty cents. A wave of blinding panic washed over him, driving him to dial Craig's private cell phone number for the first time in over a year, desperately hoping against all odds that his younger brother might offer a lifeline. The phone rang once, twice, three times, each automated tone echoing like a heavy hammer blow against his crumbling sanity. In a quiet, modern suburban office miles away, Craig's smartphone vibrated silently against the wooden desk face-down. Craig glanced at the screen, recognized the incoming caller ID from the raw digits, and without a single flicker of hesitation, emotion, or malice, simply pressed the side button to silence the alert, letting the call vanish permanently into the digital void. He did not block the number, nor did he feel any urge to answer; he simply turned his attention back to the architectural blueprint on his screen, leaving Garrett to face the unyielding consequences of a world where nobody was coming to rescue him.
