Chapter 3 - The Reckoning at Midnight
By 4:00 AM, the rain had tapered off into a dull, misty drizzle. I arrived back at the estate accompanied by two vehicles: a squad car with two uniformed Chicago police officers and a SUV carrying my corporate legal team, led by standard-setting defense attorney Marcus Vance.
The house was dark, save for the ambient lights in the kitchen. They hadn't even bothered to clean up the shattered plates, steak, and wine I had yanked onto the floor hours earlier; they had simply retired to their master suites, expecting me to handle the mess like I always did.
I unlocked the front door and stepped into the grand foyer.
"Officers," I said calmly. "The suspects are in the upstairs bedrooms. The house, the land, and everything inside it are legally under my name alone."
"Mark! What is the meaning of this noise?!"
My mother’s voice shrieked from the top of the balcony. She appeared in a silk robe, her face mask half-peeled off, eyes widening in shock as she spotted the police officers standing behind me. Tyler and Chloe emerged right behind her, rubbing their eyes in confusion and anger.
"Mark, have you lost your mind?!" Tyler spat, walking down the marble staircase in his pajamas. "You ruined dinner, you smashed expensive vintage wine, and now you bring the cops into our home at four in the morning?!"
"This isn't your home, Tyler," I said, my voice deadpan and hollow. "It never was."
"Mark, darling," Evelyn tried, softening her voice as she scurried down the steps, her hands fluttering in dramatic distress. "You're confused. That ungrateful girl has gotten into your head! She threw a fit tonight, knocked over the dinner table, and ran off into the rain like a lunatic! We were only trying to discipline her—"
"Silence!" I roared. The sheer volume of my voice echoed off the high ceilings, causing my mother to jump back in terror. "Do not utter another lie in my presence, Evelyn."
I had stopped calling her 'Mom' the moment I saw Sarah in the mud.
Marcus Vance stepped forward, opening a thick leather briefcase. "Evelyn Miller, Tyler Miller, Chloe Miller. As the legal representative of Mark Miller and Miller Logistics, I am serving you with immediate formal notices of eviction. You have thirty minutes to collect your personal clothing and vacate these premises."
"Eviction?!" Chloe shrieked, her fake eyelashes fluttering in disbelief. "You can't evict us! We live here! Tyler is the Vice President of operations!"
"Not anymore," I replied coldly. "Tyler, you were terminated from Miller Logistics as of 3:15 AM today for grand larceny, embezzlement, and corporate fraud. Your company credit cards have been canceled, your corporate accounts frozen, and the BMW leased under the company’s name has been reported stolen."
"You can't do this to your own family!" Tyler yelled, his face turning purple as he stepped toward me with raised fists. "I'm your brother!"
Before he could reach me, the two police officers moved in, seizing Tyler by his arms and forcing him against the marble pillar.
"Tyler Miller, you are under arrest for domestic assault, corporate embezzlement, and criminal conspiracy," Officer Ramirez announced, slapping steel handcuffs onto his wrists.
"Mark! Stop them! Help your brother!" Evelyn screamed, throwing herself at my feet, her hands clutching my trousers. "I am your mother! I carried you for nine months! You owe me everything! How can you treat me like this over that infernal, barren woman?!"
I looked down at the woman who gave me life, feeling nothing but profound disgust.
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"You gave me life, Evelyn," I said softly, bending down until my face was inches from hers. "But you spent the last eighteen months trying to take Sarah's. I know about the arsenic. I know about the five-million-dollar life insurance policy. And I know about the offshore accounts."
Evelyn’s face drained of all color. Her eyes stretched wide with pure, unadulterated terror. The theatrical tears dried up instantly, replaced by the grim realization that her mask had been completely ripped away.
