George Chamberlain sat in his study, the air thick with the smell of old paper and the bitter aroma of black coffee that had long since gone cold. The morning light filtered through the heavy velvet curtains, illuminating the dust motes dancing in the air, but George saw none of it. His focus was entirely on the medical reports and the legal petitions spread across his desk like the wreckage of a lost war.
For the first time in his life, the patriarch of the Chamberlain empire felt old. His hands, usually as steady as the foundations of the business he built, trembled as he adjusted his spectacles. The reports from the office were a nightmare, lawsuits , psychiatric bills for workers, clients pulling out and a growing mountain of evidence that his only son was no longer just a "difficult heir." Martin had become a liability. He had become a monster.
