Chapter 6 - The Freefall
The cutoff of Ethan’s $2,500 monthly transfers hit Patricia and Madison with the force of an avalanche.
For years, Ethan’s silent financial subsidy had masked the reality of their frivolous lifestyle. Without his monthly infusion, the house of cards collapsed in real time.
By mid-January, the consequences arrived in rapid succession. First came the repossession.
Because Madison hadn’t made a lease payment on her luxury vehicle in four months—having diverted Ethan’s December transfer toward high-end boutique shopping—a flatbed tow truck rolled down Elmwood Terrace at six in the morning. Ethan watched via the Ring doorbell as Madison ran onto the lawn in her pajamas, screaming obscenities and throwing empty coffee cups at the tow truck driver while her beloved sports sedan was hoisted into the air and hauled away.
Next came the utility shutoffs. Ethan had transferred the water, gas, and electric accounts out of his name, notifying the utility companies that the property was in the process of an eviction turnover. When the final past-due notices were ignored, the gas company shut off the main valve.
At eight o’clock on a Friday evening, Madison appeared at our front door.
Ethan and I were in the living room reading a bedtime story to Lily when the front doorbell began ringing frantically, followed by furious banging on the wood.
“Ethan! Ethan, open this goddamn door!” Madison’s voice shrieked through the oak panels.
Ethan signaled for me to take Lily upstairs. I scooped our daughter up and carried her to her bedroom, keeping the door closed and turning on her white noise machine to drown out the noise.
Downstairs, Ethan didn’t open the door. He spoke through the security intercom panel beside the lock.
“Leave the property, Madison. You are trespassing.”
“Ethan, it’s freezing at the house!” she sobbed hysterically. “The heat is off! The water is off! Mom is sick in bed with a fever, and we have no money for groceries! How can you do this to your own sister? Transfer five thousand dollars to my account right now, or I swear to God, I’m calling the news stations!”
Ethan looked at the security monitor. Madison was shivering, her mascara running down her cheeks, looking completely unhinged.
“Madison,” Ethan said calmly through the speaker. “You are twenty-nine years old. You have an undergraduate degree that I paid for. You haven't worked an honest shift in thirty-six months because you preferred playing socialite on my dime. There will be no money. There will be no rescue.”
“I will destroy you!” she screamed, kicking the bottom of the solid wood door with her boot. “I will tell everyone you’re an abusive monster who starved his family!”
“I’ve already called the local precinct,” Ethan replied smoothly. “A squad car was dispatched two minutes ago. If you’re still standing on my porch when they arrive, you will spend the night in county lockup for attempted breaking and entering.”
Madison paused, horror flashing across her face. The distant wail of a police siren echoed through the quiet suburban streets.
May you like
Panicked, she stumbled off our porch, scrambled into a friend’s beat-up sedan that had been waiting at the curb, and sped away into the darkness just as the flashing blue-and-red lights appeared at the end of our street.
***
