Chapter 8 - The Remnants of the Storm
By five o'clock that evening, the story had completely dominated local and state news outlets.
The collapse of the Vance extortion ring led to an immediate series of search warrants executed on Walker Holdings, my father's business, and my parents' home.
Because my mother had personally forged my signature on federal grant documents, and my father had knowingly used stolen funds to pay off illegal debts, both of them were taken into custody by county sheriff's deputies late that afternoon.
I drove the blue sedan—now legally transferred into my name—to my parents' house one last time to meet with the state-appointed trustee who was taking possession of the property.
The house was dark and quiet. The front door, which had been locked against me twenty-four hours ago, stood slightly ajar.
Inside, sitting on the bottom step of the staircase in the dark, was Savannah.
She wasn't wearing her designer clothes. She was wrapped in a ratty old sweater, staring at the floor, surrounded by three large cardboard boxes containing her personal belongings.
I stopped in the doorway, the snow blowing gently around my boots.
"They're taking the house," Savannah said, her voice hollow and empty. She didn't look up at me. "The bank is foreclosing on Monday. Dad is in a holding cell downtown. Mom is crying so hard they had to put her in the infirmary."
I didn't say anything. I stood there, watching my sister—the girl who had watched me suffer for six years with a look of quiet satisfaction on her face.
"Are you happy now?" Savannah asked, turning her head slowly to look at me. Tears had tracked lines through her makeup. "You destroyed everything, Clara. You destroyed our family."
"I didn't destroy anything, Savannah," I said softly. "You, Mom, and Dad built a house out of cards and stolen money, and you blamed me every time the wind blew. I just stopped holding up the walls for you."
Savannah choked back a sob, burying her face in her knees. "Where am I supposed to go? My accounts are frozen. The university revoked my housing today. I have nowhere to live."
I reached into my coat pocket and pulled out an envelope. Inside was five hundred dollars in cash—money Marcus had helped me pull from my restored auxiliary stipend.
I walked across the foyer, set the envelope on the cardboard box beside her, and stepped back.
"That's enough for a motel room for two weeks and a bus ticket to aunt Sarah’s house in Ohio," I said. "It's more help than you ever gave me or Zoe."
Savannah looked at the envelope, then looked up at me, her eyes wide with shock and guilt. "Why... why are you giving me this?"
May you like
"Because I'm not like you," I said simply. "Get a job, Savannah. Learn what it feels like to earn your own life."
I turned around and walked out the door, leaving the house, my past, and my sister behind forever.
