Chapter 6 - Eviction on a Silver Platter
As the handcuffs clicked around Megan’s manicured wrists, Eleanor collapsed onto a dining chair, sobbing theatrically into her linen napkin.
"This is the end of our family! The shame! The absolute disgrace! Mark, how could you let this woman destroy us?"
"She didn't destroy you, Eleanor," Zoe said, her voice dripping with ice. "Your greed and your daughter's cruelty did."
Arthur Vance stepped to the head of the table, pulling another document from his folder. He placed it squarely atop Eleanor’s untouched turkey plate.
"Notice of Immediate Revocation of Tenancy," Arthur announced cleanly.
Eleanor froze, lowering her napkin. "What is that?"
"Pursuant to Clause 14B of the Adams Trust Occupancy Agreement, any criminal act or act of violence committed on the premises by the occupants or their guests terminates the conditional lease immediately and without standard thirty-day cure periods," Arthur said. "You have until nine o’clock tomorrow morning to remove your personal clothing and medication. Everything else—the antique furnishings, the silver, the art—remains under trust lien until a forensic audit is completed."
"Tomorrow morning?" Eleanor wailed. "It’s freezing outside! It’s Thanksgiving! Where am I supposed to go?"
"You have a daughter in lockup and a son with three leased luxury cars," Zoe smiled thinly. "I suggest you call an Uber."
Mark lunged toward me, dropping to his knees on the rug. The desperate transformation from arrogant patriarch to weeping beggar was sickening to watch.
"Chloe, please," Mark pleaded, grabbing the hem of my coat. "Please don't do this. I made a mistake. I was overwhelmed. Megan was having a breakdown because Greg wants a divorce, and Mom was pressuring me... I didn't mean to push you out! I was just trying to keep the peace!"
"You kept the peace by sacrificing your daughter," I whispered, looking down at the man I had loved for six years. "You stood by while she hit Lily. You watched my baby cry, and you locked the door."
"I was going to come out and get you!" he cried. "I swear to God, Chloe! I was just waiting for them to calm down!"
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"You didn't come out," I said. "You poured another glass of wine."
Sergeant Reynolds led a sobbing, kicking Megan out through the foyer. The front door remained wide open, letting the frigid Chicago air pour into the house, snuffing out the dining room candles one by one.
