Chapter 5 - The Financial Avalanche
By Monday afternoon, the reality of their situation had crashed down on them. My email inbox was flooded.
From: Richard Sterling Subject: URGENT. CALL ME. Arthur, this isn't funny anymore. The country club just called and said our auto-draft bounced. Vanessa’s landlord just emailed her a lease termination notice. What the hell is going on? Answer your damn phone!
I didn't answer. I went to work. I sat in my corner office, reviewing logistics contracts, feeling more focused than I had in years.
For a decade, I had funneled nearly forty thousand dollars a month into their lifestyle. Mortgages, car leases, designer clothes, extravagant vacations. They had no savings. My father's "consulting firm" hadn't turned a profit since 2015. They were entirely, helplessly dependent on me, yet they had treated my wife worse than dirt.
At 4:00 PM, my receptionist, Brenda, buzzed my intercom. "Mr. Sterling, your father and sister are in the lobby. They are... quite agitated. They’re demanding to see you."
I leaned back in my chair. "Brenda, please inform them that I have no space on my calendar today. If they refuse to leave, have building security escort them out. Tell them they are no longer permitted on the premises."
"Right away, sir."
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I watched the security feed on my monitor. My father's face turned purple as two burly security guards approached him. Vanessa stamped her foot, pointing a finger at the front desk, screaming something I couldn't hear. They were escorted out of the glass doors, pushed onto the busy Manhattan sidewalk like common trespassers.
The empire was crumbling, and I was the one holding the hammer.
