Chapter 3 - The Eviction of PrideThe grand foyer of the River Oaks estate felt smaller by the second, choked by the weight of absolute realization.
Chloe’s hand slipped away from Ethan’s arm as if he had suddenly caught fire. She looked at him with wide, frantic eyes, her breath coming in ragged gasps.
"Ethan... you told me you owned this place!" Chloe cried out, her voice echoing off the marble walls. "You told my father you were a major shareholder in Sterling Crest! He gave you a two-hundred-thousand-dollar line of credit based on your executive status!"
Ethan couldn't speak. His throat felt completely dry, as if he had swallowed sand. He stared at Claire, trying to reconcile the quiet, submissive woman who had cooked his meals and endured his mother’s insults for seven years with the commanding figure standing before him surrounded by attorneys and armed officers.
"Claire..." Ethan stuttered, taking a desperate step toward her, his hands held out in a pleading gesture. "Claire, listen to me... this is a massive misunderstanding. I... I was stressed. My mother... my mother was putting pressure on me! She wanted an heir! I didn't mean any of those things I said last night!"
"Don't you dare blame me, Ethan!" Margaret shrieked, her voice turning high-pitched and hysterical. She turned to Claire, her hands trembling as she smoothed down her velvet robe—the very robe Claire had bought her. "Claire... dear... you know how much I’ve always cared for you! I was just... I was just testing you last night! To see if you really loved my son! It was a family misunderstanding!"
Nathan Brooks stepped directly between Margaret and Claire, pulling a secondary legal document from his briefcase.
"Mrs. Margaret Vance," Nathan said, his voice flat and devoid of emotion. "You are currently wearing a silk robe, gold slippers, and a diamond necklace that were purchased using funds from Claire Sterling’s personal credit accounts. If those items are not returned to the estate inventory within fifteen minutes, my client will press formal charges for theft of personal property."
Margaret gasped, her hand flying to her throat to clutch the diamond necklace. "Theft?! She gave this to me for Christmas!"
"Which was purchased with her private credit card, while you used her home, her food, and her hospitality while calling her 'barren' and 'a mouth to feed,'" Nathan countered coldly. "Deputies, please oversee the inventory recovery."
The lead deputy stepped up beside Margaret. "Ma'am, please remove the jewelry and hand it over to the legal team. Now."
Margaret’s face turned bright purple with humiliation. Tears of absolute rage and terror spilt over her cheeks as her trembling fingers unclasped the diamond necklace and dropped it into a velvet bag held out by one of the junior attorneys. She kicked off the gold slippers, standing barefoot on the cold marble floor.
"You monster!" Margaret wept, glaring at Claire. "You tricked us! You let us believe my son was the head of this house! You humiliated us!"
"I didn't trick you, Margaret," Claire said calmly, looking down at her bare feet. "You built a castle out of your own arrogance, and you fell in love with the lie. I simply stopped paying for the foundation."
Claire then turned her attention to Marcus Vance, the head of Sterling Crest Security, who was standing near the entrance to the three-car garage.
"Marcus, is the Mercedes AMG secured?" Claire asked.
"Yes, Madam President," Marcus replied. "The tow truck is backing into the driveway now. The vehicle registration is in Sterling Crest Group's name. Mr. Vance’s personal belongings inside the trunk have been cleared into a plastic storage bin."
Ethan’s eyes went wild. "My car?! You’re taking my car?! How am I supposed to drive to Austin?! How am I supposed to go to work?!"
"You don't have a job to drive to, Ethan," Claire said, taking a slim tablet from Daniel and tapping the screen. "At 6:00 AM, the board of directors of Crestline Logistics received a full dossier of your corporate expense fraud. You billed eighty-two thousand dollars of luxury hotel stays, private OB-GYN packages, and Cartier watches to the company’s client entertainment account."
Chloe’s eyes widened in horror. "Cartier watches?! Ethan, you told me that watch you gave me was from your personal bonus!"
"It was paid for by my company, Chloe," Claire corrected smoothly, looking at the young woman. "Which means it was paid for by me. And since those funds were converted fraudulently, our legal team has already filed a civil lien against all gifts purchased under those expense reports. Marcus, please collect the watch on Miss Bennett’s wrist."
"What?!" Chloe shrieked, backing away. "You can't take my watch! I’m pregnant!"
"And you are wearing stolen property on Sterling Crest premises," Nathan Brooks stated firmly. "Hand over the watch, Miss Bennett, or the deputies will process you as an accessory to corporate conversion."
Crying hysterically, Chloe unclasped the gold Cartier watch from her wrist and threw it onto the marble floor at Nathan’s feet. "I hate you! Ethan, you lied to me! You told me you were a millionaire!"
"Chloe, please! Baby, listen to me!" Ethan begged, grabbing her shoulders.
"Get away from me, you pathetic loser!" Chloe screamed, shoving him backward so hard he stumbled over his own leather shoes. "My father is going to destroy you! He’s going to revoke your business line and sue you for fraud!"
"Deputies," Claire commanded, her voice dropping into an absolute command. "The thirty minutes are up. Please escort these three individuals off my property. They may take the clothes on their backs and the single suitcase they packed for me last night. Nothing else."
"Claire! Please!" Ethan dropped to his knees on the marble floor, crawling toward her heels, tears streaming down his face. "Seven years! We were married for seven years! You can't just throw me out on the street with twenty-five hundred dollars!"
Claire paused, looking down at the man who had offered her a "severance package" in the rain just hours ago.
She pulled a small paper envelope from her navy suit pocket—the exact same envelope Ethan had shoved into her hands the night before.
She dropped it onto the floor right in front of his face.
"There’s $2,500 in here, Ethan," Claire said softly, her eyes cold as stone. "Take it as your severance package... and go find a hotel."
Margaret let out a horrific, wailing scream as two deputies took her by the arms and led her barefoot out the front double doors, down the brick driveway, and past the open wrought-iron gates.
Chloe followed right behind, sobbing hysterically into her phone as she called her father to pick her up from the curb.
And Ethan Vance, the man who had thought he was king of River Oaks, was dragged to his feet by Marcus Vance and pushed out onto the gravel entrance, holding his single plastic storage bin, while the heavy tow truck lifted his luxury Mercedes into the morning air.
Claire walked out onto the grand stone porch, standing in the exact spot where Ethan had stood the night before. She watched as the wrought-iron gates swung slowly shut, locking the three of them out on the public sidewalk under the bright, unforgiving morning sun.
Daniel stepped up beside her, holding a hot cup of coffee. "What are your orders for the rest of the day, Madam President?"
May you like
Claire took a sip of her coffee, looking out over her pristine, peaceful estate.
"Call the locks team, Daniel," Claire said with a soft, quiet smile. "I want every single lock on this house changed. And tell Nathan to file the divorce papers by noon."
