Chapter 7 - The Cannibals
The Vance family home on Maplewood Drive had once been Richard’s crowning achievement. A sprawling five-bedroom brick colonial with a three-car garage, manicured boxwoods, and a stone fountain in the circular driveway.
Now, it felt like a tomb.
Boxes were stacked haphazardly in the grand foyer. Teresa sat on the bottom of the curved staircase, her eyes hollow, staring at a bright yellow notice taped to the mahogany front door:
*NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE - SHERIFF'S AUCTION SCHEDULED FOR THE FIRST TUESDAY OF NEXT MONTH.*
In the kitchen, the sound of breaking glass echoed through the empty hallway.
Claudia was screaming at her father.
"YOU PROMISED ME!" Claudia shrieked, throwing a porcelain coffee mug against the subway-tiled backsplash. "You told me you were a millionaire! You told me Audrey was just a bitter, selfish cow who owed us! You let me sign a lease on an apartment in Chicago! You let me order my graduation invitations!"
Richard sat at the kitchen island, unshaven, his hair greasy, an open bottle of cheap rye whiskey resting beside his trembling hand. He wore an electronic ankle monitor that blinked with a steady, hateful green light.
"Shut up, Claudia," Richard rasped, not even looking up. "Just pack your clothes and get out."
"You stole her money!" Claudia cried, tears of pure hysteria streaming down her makeup-streaked face. "I talked to Uncle Greg this morning! He told me the whole family knows! You stole Grandma’s trust fund twenty years ago! You built this whole fake life on Audrey’s money, and now we’re all going down because you couldn't keep your hands off David’s car!"
"I DID IT FOR THIS FAMILY!" Richard roared, slamming both palms down onto the island so hard the whiskey bottle jumped. "Everything I took, I poured back into this house! Into Ethan’s business! Into your private school! None of you complained when the tuition checks cleared! None of you complained when Ethan was driving sixty-thousand-dollar trucks!"
"Because we thought you earned it!" Claudia shouted back, grabbing her designer duffel bag from the floor. "You’re a thief, Dad! You’re a common thief, and now everyone at school knows! My friends are ghosting me! The firm in Chicago rescinded my job offer because of the fraud investigation into Vance Contracting!"
"Claudia, please," Teresa whimpered from the hallway, shuffling into the kitchen in her slippers. "Don't leave us. We have to stick together. We’re family."
Claudia looked at her mother with pure disgust. "Family? You stood on Audrey’s driveway and watched Dad punch her in the face. You cheered when Ethan stole that car. You’re not a family, Mom. You’re a pack of parasites, and you finally killed the only host that kept you fed."
Claudia swung her bag over her shoulder, pushed past her mother without another word, and slammed the front door behind her. The sound reverberated through the empty house like a gunshot.
Teresa fell to her knees on the kitchen linoleum, weeping uncontrollably. "What have we done, Richard? What have we done?"
Richard didn't answer. He picked up the bottle of rye, took a long, burning swallow, and stared at the front page of the *Columbus Dispatch* sitting on the counter.
The headline was simple and merciless:
*PROMINENT SUBURBAN CONTRACTOR ARRESTED IN BRUTAL FAMILY ASSAULT; WIDER COMMERCIAL FRAUD PROBE UNDERWAY.*
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Underneath the headline was a screenshot taken directly from Audrey’s security camera: Richard’s fist striking Audrey’s face in the rain, frozen in high-definition clarity for the entire city to witness.
***
