Chapter 2 - The Deed to the Deception
Chaos erupted in the dining room. Victoria rushed to her son's side, attempting to shield him from the officers, while Natalie began screaming obscenities at me.
"She’s lying! She’s unstable!" Victoria yelled, her perfect upper-class facade cracking into ugly lines. "My son would never touch her! Look at her, she’s trying to ruin his career because she’s jealous of his family!"
"We have the medical forensics from the emergency room, Mrs. Vance," Detective Miller said coldly as the officers stepped around her, grabbing Ethan's arms. "The spiral fracture on her radius is entirely inconsistent with a fall down the stairs. It is, however, completely consistent with a violent twisting motion applied from behind."
Ethan began to struggle as the cold steel of the handcuffs locked around his wrists. "Valerie, please! Don't do this! We can talk about the accounts! You can keep the money!"
"The money was never yours to give, Ethan," I said, pulling my phone from beneath the table. I tapped the screen, stopping the audio recording that had captured the last forty minutes of their celebratory dinner. "And neither is this house."
Natalie stopped yelling, her eyes darting between me and the detective. "What do you mean, not his house? Our family built this place!"
"Your family lived on credit and my signatures, Natalie," I said, turning the phone toward Detective Miller. "This property was purchased through my personal LLC prior to the marriage. Ethan's name was never on the deed. He was merely an occupant. And as of tonight, his occupancy is revoked."
I looked at Victoria, whose hands were still clawing at her son's sleeves as the officers began dragging him toward the door.
"You have until midnight to pack your bags and leave my property, Victoria," I added, my voice cutting through her hysterics like a scalpel. "Both of you."
"You can't evict us! It’s winter!" Natalie cried out.
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"Watch me," I replied.
As the front door slammed shut, taking Ethan's desperate pleas into the cold night air, the silence that returned to the mansion was deafening. Victoria turned to me, her eyes burning with pure, unadulterated hatred. But for the first time in three years, I wasn't the one who was powerless.
