Chapter 3 - The Eviction Notice And The Mother's Fury
The sleek black town car pulled up to the wrought-iron gates of our sprawling suburban estate precisely at 4:00 p.m. As I stepped out onto the pristine cobblestone driveway, I noticed that the security gate codes had already been remotely deactivated. Inside the house, high-pitched shrieks of absolute fury echoed through the open second-story windows.
I pushed open the heavy oak front door and stepped into the foyer. Lorraine was pacing back and forth across the imported Italian marble floor like a caged tigress, screaming furiously into her gold-plated smartphone while throwing decorative crystal vases across the hallway.
'What do you mean my card is blocked?! Do you know who I am?!' she shrieked into the phone before slamming it down against the wall, shattering the screen into a thousand pieces. She spun around, locking her venomous eyes onto me as I closed the front door behind me.
'You!' Lorraine screeched, lunging forward with her fingernails clawed like a wild animal. 'You ungrateful, treacherous little bitch! What did you do to Daniel?! His cards are frozen, his executive privileges are revoked, and the bank just rejected our mortgage payment! Are you completely insane?!'
I sidestepped her lunging attack with effortless grace, my expression remaining completely impassive. I gestured calmly toward the living room, where two armed private security guards hired by Miriam stood stationed by the French doors.
'Keep your hands to yourself, Lorraine,' I said evenly. 'Or you will find yourself physically escorted off this property much sooner than anticipated.'
She froze, her chest heaving as she glared at me in sheer disbelief. 'Property? This is *our* home! Daniel built this life for us! You are nothing without my son—you were a broken, grieving orphan when he rescued you from your father's shadow!'
A sharp, chilling laugh escaped my lips. 'Rescued me? My father built this entire estate brick by brick before he died. Daniel couldn't even afford the property taxes on this guest wing without my signature.'
At that exact moment, the front door swung open again, and Daniel stormed into the house, his tie ripped loose from his collar and his face flushed a dark, ugly crimson. He looked like a man who had just watched his entire world implode.
'Catherine!' Daniel roared, charging toward me. 'What the hell did you pull at the board meeting?! Thomas Vance just informed me that my office has been cleared out, my corporate email has been wiped, and my company credit lines have been canceled nationwide! Have you lost your damn mind?!'
'No, Daniel,' I replied, turning to face him directly while resting my uninjured hand on the back of the living room sofa. 'For the first time in three years, I have never been more entirely in my right mind.'
'You think you can just ruin me?' he snarled, stepping up so close I could smell the expensive scotch mixed with cold panic on his breath. 'I am your husband! Everything you own legally belongs to our marital estate! I'm going to sue you into oblivion, strip you of every share, and leave you penniless in the gutter!'
'Marital estate?' I smiled, raising an eyebrow. 'Let me enlighten you, husband of mine. Before we walked down the aisle, your high-priced corporate lawyers made sure you signed a comprehensive ironclad prenuptial agreement drafted by my father's firm—an agreement you were so arrogant and blinded by greed to read thoroughly, because you assumed you would fleece me dry within five years anyway.'
Daniel's face drained of color in a single heartbeat. He stammered, 'The... the prenup... that was just a formality—'
'A formality that explicitly states any proven financial fraud, embezzlement, or domestic abuse instantly voids all spousal claims and financial settlements,' I finished smoothly, pulling a crisp legal document from my briefcase. 'And what we witnessed in the boardroom today, combined with your physical assault on me yesterday morning caught on our hallway security cameras, constitutes an immediate total forfeiture.'
Lorraine let out a shrill gasp, clutching her pearls as if she were about to faint. 'Daniel! Tell me she's lying! Tell me you didn't leave loopholes in our security!'
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He couldn't answer. His lips trembled, and for the first time since I had known him, absolute terror flickered in his eyes.
'You have forty-eight hours to pack your personal belongings and vacate this estate,' I stated, my voice echoing coldly through the grand foyer. 'Because starting Wednesday morning, the locks are being changed permanently, and any attempt to step foot on this property will be treated as criminal trespassing.'
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