The sound of my walking cane snapping in half was louder than the music.

Elaine let out a sound like a punctured tire.

"Grace! No! You can't do this to your own mother!" she shrieked, lurching out of her chair and dropping to her knees on the conference room carpet. She reached across the edge of the table, trying to grab my hands. "I have nowhere to go! My friends are all in Upper Arlington! My church is there! My garden!"

I pulled my hands back out of her reach.

"Get up, Mom," I said, my voice completely flat. "Have some dignity."

"Grace, please!" she begged, tears streaming down her wrinkled cheeks. "I made a mistake! I should have defended you yesterday! I should have grabbed Brooke’s arm! I’m sorry! I’ll get on my knees and apologize to you in front of the whole family! Just don't throw me out on the street!"

Brooke stood up slowly, her face contorted with a bizarre mixture of disgust and panic. "Don't beg her, Mom! She’s doing this to punish us! She’s a sadistic psycho!"

"Shut up, Brooke!" Daniel roared, finally losing his temper. He turned on his wife, his face purple with fury. "Will you shut your damn mouth for once in your life? Look what you’ve done! You broke her cane! You staged an entire scene at a family barbecue because a twelve-year-old was asked to move his shoes! Now my firm is investigating my collateral declarations, we're on the hook for an eighteen-thousand-dollar masonry deposit, and your mother is losing her house!"

"Me?" Brooke screamed back, tears of rage finally breaking through. "You wanted this remodel, Daniel! You told me we needed the pool house finished before your senior partners came over for Labor Day! You pushed me to do it!"

"Enough," Martin Vance said. His voice was not loud, but it possessed the iron weight of forty years in high-stakes litigation.

He stood up, towering over the conference table.

"Mr. Miller, Mrs. Miller, Mrs. Holloway," Martin said coldly. "The legal situation is entirely unambiguous. Highland Crest Properties LLC holds the sole, unencumbered fee simple title to the real estate. There is no court in the state of Ohio that will overturn this deed. You have thirty days. If any member of this family attempts to contact Grace Holloway directly via telephone, text, email, or in person, we will immediately file a petition for a civil protection order."

Martin looked down at Daniel.

"Furthermore, Mr. Miller, regarding the financial affidavits you submitted to your private lenders: my office has not yet forwarded those documents to the Ohio Accountancy Board. Grace has instructed me to hold them in abeyance for forty-eight hours."

Daniel’s eyes widened with sheer terror. "What do you want?"

"Full reimbursement for the broken mobility device," Martin stated. "A certified bank check in the amount of twelve hundred dollars for a custom carbon-fiber replacement. Second: immediate and complete withdrawal of all construction crews, equipment, and materials from the Elmwood Drive property by sundown today, along with full repair of the lawn and irrigation systems at your sole expense."

"Done," Daniel gasped without hesitation. "I’ll write the check right now. I’ll call the landscapers myself."

"And third," I added, speaking for the first time in several minutes.

Daniel looked at me, his eyes pleading. "Anything, Grace. Name it."

"Mom moves into a one-bedroom apartment at the Whispering Pines Senior Living community in Dublin. I have already secured a lease in my name. The rent is paid for one year."

Elaine gasped, looking up from the carpet. "Whispering Pines? That's... that's where the old people play bingo! It’s an apartment building! Grace, my furniture won't fit in an apartment!"