Chapter 6 - Desperation and Pride
For three days, the Brennan home descended into a frozen siege.
The county tax installment deadline had passed, resulting in an immediate five-hundred-dollar penalty slapped onto the delinquent property tax balance. The heating system had been lowered to sixty-one degrees to conserve fuel, leaving the cavernous stone-and-marble rooms feeling like a refrigerated tomb.
Kenneth sat in his recliner, wearing two sweaters and a wool cap, glaring at the telephone.
Every instinct in his seventy-two-year-old body demanded that he maintain his defiance. For decades, he had ruled his family through sheer volume and intimidation. If Joanne questioned his spending, he shouted until she fell silent. If Tyler failed a semester of college, Kenneth blamed the professors. And when Lucia had chosen to study computer science in Austin instead of staying in Indiana to manage his auto-parts inventory, he had branded her a selfish traitor.
His phone rang at two in the afternoon.
Kenneth lunged for it, hoping against hope that it was Bill from the bank offering a loan modification.
"Hello?"
"Mr. Kenneth Brennan?" a crisp, professional female voice inquired.
"Yes. Who is this?"
"This is the office of Evelyn Wright, Senior Counsel for Axiom Capital Holdings. I am calling to confirm receipt of the formal Notice of Breach regarding the occupancy covenants for parcel 18-092-11."
Kenneth gripped the phone tightly. "Listen to me, lady! Tell Lucia to pick up the damn phone! I am her father!"
"Mr. Brennan, Ms. Lucia Brennan is currently in executive meetings and does not receive unverified personal calls through corporate channels," Evelyn replied smoothly. "As legal representative for the property owner, it is my duty to inform you that Axiom Capital has filed a thirty-day notice of license revocation with the Hancock County Circuit Court. You have twenty-six days remaining to either cure the outstanding tax and maintenance arrears totaling fourteen thousand two hundred dollars, or peacefully vacate the premises."
"Fourteen thousand?!" Kenneth shouted. "Where the hell am I supposed to get fourteen thousand dollars?!"
"That is a personal financial matter, Mr. Brennan. Our client has expressed no desire to negotiate a secondary subsidy. Furthermore, please be advised that any attempt to dismantle, damage, or remove structural fixtures from the residence—including the custom masonry, HVAC additions, or kitchen installations—will result in immediate criminal charges for destruction of corporate property."
"You tell my daughter that she is going to burn in hell for this!" Kenneth roared. "She is an ungrateful, spiteful little snake! I put food in her mouth for eighteen years!"
"Duly noted, Mr. Brennan. Have a pleasant afternoon."
The line clicked dead.
Kenneth slammed the receiver down so hard the plastic casing cracked. He stood up, pacing the marble floor like a caged predator. "Ungrateful... arrogant... little bitch!"
"Stop it, Kenneth!" Joanne screamed from the doorway.
It was the first time in forty years Kenneth had ever heard his wife raise her voice above a whisper. He stopped in his tracks, staring at her in disbelief.
"What did you just say to me?" he growled.
"I said stop it!" Joanne stepped fully into the living room, her face pale, her hands balled into tight fists. "Look at yourself! Screaming like a madman into an empty room while our life collapses around our ears! You're calling your daughter a snake? The daughter who quietly paid your mortgage for seven years?!"
"She did it to control us!" Kenneth bellowed. "She did it so she could hold it over my head!"
"She never held it over your head!" Joanne yelled back, tears finally spilling over her cheeks. "Did she ever brag about it? Did she ever demand a thank you? Did she ever ask for a single favor? No! She kept it secret because she knew your pathetic, fragile ego would break if you knew a woman—your own daughter—was keeping you from sleeping under an interstate bridge!"
"I am the man of this house!"
"There is no house, Kenneth!" Joanne sobbed, gesturing wildly at the walls. "There is only her house! And Tyler... God help me, look at what we did to Tyler. We let him become a vain, useless parasite who thinks he’s an emperor while his sister footed the bill! He can't even pay his own grocery bill today because of the lies we fed him!"
Kenneth stared at his wife, his chest heaving, his mouth opening and closing without producing a sound.
"I’m leaving," Joanne said quietly, wiping her face with her sleeve.
Kenneth blinked. "What?"
"I bought a Greyhound ticket to Chicago. I’m going to stay with my sister, Martha."
"You can't leave me here alone!" Kenneth shouted, panic finally piercing through his rage. "The sheriff is coming in three weeks!"
May you like
"Then you’d better start packing boxes, Kenneth," Joanne whispered, turning toward the bedroom. "Because the kingdom you built on your pride just fell down."
***
