Chapter 5 - The Midnight Eviction Notice
The red wine soaked rapidly into the white carpet, a dark, spreading stain that seemed to mirror the irreversible ruin Brandon and his family had brought upon themselves.
For a full thirty seconds, nobody breathed. The only sound in the room was the heavy, ragged breathing of Brandon as he stared at the spreading puddle of wine, his face pale and slick with sudden sweat.
"You're lying," Brandon choked out, though his voice shook violently. "That's... that's a bluff. There's no federal judge addendum. You're just making that up to scare me!"
"Am I?" I reached into my coat pocket, pulled out my phone, and tapped the screen twice. I held it up so the glowing display faced him. "Would you like me to put my uncle on speaker right now? It's midnight, but I'm quite certain Judge Sterling would be more than happy to discuss the legal ramifications of felony real estate fraud over a conference call."
Brandon’s eyes darted frantically from my phone screen to my face, searching for any sign of hesitation or bluff. He found none. What he found was the cold, unyielding gaze of a woman who had finally reached her absolute limit.
Gertrude shrieked, losing all her composure entirely. She lunged forward, grabbing Brandon’s arm with trembling fingers. "Brandon! Do something! Call his bluff! Don't just stand there letting her talk to you like that! We have rights! We live here!"
"Mom, shut up!" Brandon snapped, finally breaking under the crushing weight of panic. He shoved his mother's hand away, his eyes wide with terror. "Just shut up for one minute!"
Hailey rushed to her brother's side, her voice shrill and defensive. "We can't leave! Where are we going to go? My boutique lease starts next month, and our apartment lease in Pasadena was already terminated!"
I slid my phone back into my pocket and crossed my arms, looking down at the three of them with absolute detachment.
"That sounds like a personal problem," I said calmly. "Fortunately, you have a very simple solution. You have until eight o'clock tomorrow morning to pack your personal belongings, load them into your cars, and get off this property."
"Eight o'clock?!" Gertrude screamed, her face contorting with rage. "You can't kick us out on the street like dogs! I'm an elderly woman! I have heart conditions!"
"You had a heart condition when you were eating three-hundred-dollar lobster dinners while my daughter ate instant soup," I replied evenly. "You should have thought about your living arrangements before you decided to treat my life savings as your personal ATM and my child as an afterthought."
I turned my back on them and began walking toward the stairs.
"Charlotte! Wait! Char, please!" Brandon cried out, scrambling after me, his voice cracking with desperation. He dropped to his knees right at the bottom of the staircase, grabbing the hem of my trousers. "Don't do this! We can fix this! We can go to counseling! We can give the money back—well, most of it is tied up in inventory, but we can figure out a payment plan! Please, Char, don't destroy our family over a few financial mistakes!"
I looked down at the man who had been my husband for seven years—a man kneeling on a carpet stained with wine, begging not for his marriage, but for his safety from the consequences of his own greed.
I gently pulled my trousers out of his grip.
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"Our family was destroyed the night you decided to starve our daughter so your mother could dine on seafood," I said quietly. "Enjoy your last night under this roof, Brandon. Because the locks are being changed at precisely eight-fifteen tomorrow morning."
I turned and walked up the stairs, leaving him sobbing on the hardwood floor while Gertrude and Hailey shrieked curses into the empty air behind me.
