Chapter 4 - The Scavengers Turn
Deprived of his home, his company, and his wealth, Grant retreated to the only place he had left: his mother’s suburban townhouse—a home that I had bought for Eleanor eight years ago following her expensive spinal surgery.
Inside the crowded living room, the atmosphere was thick with toxic panic.
Eleanor was pacing back and forth, holding a glass of sherry, while Chloe frantically scrolled through her phone, watching the stock price of Vance-Grant Innovations plummet on the news.
“She took everything!” Grant screamed, punching the plaster wall, leaving a jagged hole. “She took the firm! The bank seized my personal accounts! I have less than four hundred dollars in cash!”
“You idiot!” Chloe shrieked, turning on her brother. “I told you not to rush the baby shower! I told you to wait until Kayla’s name was on the house title! Now look at us! We’re ruined!”
“Don’t you dare talk to your brother like that!” Eleanor snapped, though her own hands were shaking. “Grant made a mistake, but Naomi is the real villain here! She planned this! She knew about Kayla for months and waited until today to humiliate us!”
Just then, the front door rattled open.
Kayla walked into the living room. Her eyes were red, but she was no longer crying. She carried a large envelope under her arm.
Grant instantly jumped up, his face contorted in rage. “You! How dare you show your face here, you cheating whore!”
“Shut up, Grant,” Kayla said coldly, stepping into the room with an aura of total indifference. “I’m not here for you.”
Eleanor rushed at her, claws out. “You fake little snake! You tried to pass off Marcus Sterling’s bastard as a Vance!”
Kayla easily dodged the older woman, slapping a thick legal document onto the dining table.
“That ‘bastard,’ as you call it, is Marcus Sterling’s child,” Kayla said with a wicked smirk. “And as of two hours ago, Marcus’s legal team filed a lawsuit against Grant for corporate sabotage and personal harassment.”
Grant blinked, stunned. “What? He is suing me?!”
“Marcus set you up, Grant,” Kayla laughed softly. “He knew you were desperate for an heir because your mother was driving you crazy about it. He paid me to get close to you, to convince you to use your house as collateral, and to make sure you made enough illegal moves to destroy your own credibility.”
Grant looked as though he had been hit by a freight train. “You… you worked with him from the start?”
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“Of course I did,” Kayla said, pulling out a gold compact mirror to check her lipstick. “Did you really think a twenty-four-year-old model genuinely fell in love with a balding, stressed-out fifty-year-old manager? You were just a stepping stone.”
She leaned over the table, tapping the document. “Marcus bought out all of Grant’s personal loan debts from the private lenders this morning. He owns your debts now, Grant. And if you don’t surrender your remaining nine percent of company stock to Marcus by midnight, he will hand the evidence of your embezzlement straight to the District Attorney.”
