Chapter 4 - The Price of Ruin
Thirty minutes later, the courthouse rotunda was a war zone of flashing cameras, echoing shouts, and broken pride.
News of the explosive hearing had leaked to local business reporters who covered Chicago’s commercial construction sector. As Julian stepped out of the private elevator flanked by Gregory Sterling, microphones were shoved into his face. Reporters shouted questions about the embezzlement allegations, the federal referral, and the luxury vehicles purchased with stolen corporate funds. Julian shoved his hands into his pockets, pulled his coat collar up, and literally ran down the wide marble steps into the pelting rain, his dignity in tatters.
I walked out through the rear executive exit where my black Lincoln Navigator was waiting at the curb.
Standing beneath the concrete awning, completely drenched in the downpour, were Helen, Arthur, and Rosalind. They looked like drowned rats. The country-club veneer that had shielded them for decades had washed away in the storm.
When Arthur saw me step outside, he lunged forward, but my driver, a burly former Marine named Marcus, immediately stepped between us, his massive frame an impenetrable wall.
"Evie! Stop! Listen to your father!" Arthur shouted, his voice hoarse and desperate. "You’ve destroyed us! Do you have any idea what you've done?!"
I stopped. I didn't hide behind Marcus. I stepped out into the open air, holding an umbrella over my head, looking at the three people who had spent my entire life draining my energy, my money, and my soul.
"I didn't destroy you, Dad," I said quietly. "You destroyed yourselves when you decided that Rosalind’s vanity was worth more than my children’s safety."
"Eve, please!" Rosalind cried, dropping to her knees on the wet concrete, her designer makeup smeared into ugly black streaks across her cheeks. She crawled forward, reaching for the hem of my trousers. "They're going to arrest me! Julian’s lawyer just told him the feds are freezing my bank accounts! The Porsche is being repossessed! I don't know how to survive in prison, Eve! I’m your little sister! You promised you’d always protect me!"
I looked down at her. For thirty-five years, seeing Rosalind cry would have triggered an automatic, conditioned response inside me. I would have rushed forward, dried her tears, written a check, taken the blame, and apologized for existing.
That woman was dead. She had died on the frozen granite bench two hours ago.
"You weren't thinking about being my little sister when you laid in my guest bed while I was working seventy-hour weeks to pay off Dad's bankruptcy loans," I said, my voice cutting through the rain like a razor. "You weren't thinking about sisterhood when you spent stolen company money on diamond earrings while my children sat alone in an empty house. You wanted Julian? You have him. You wanted his lifestyle? You can share his federal indictment."
"Evelyn Marie Lewis!" Helen shrieked, her voice shrill with venomous entitlement. "How dare you speak to your sister like that! We raised you! We gave you everything! You owe us!"
"I owe you nothing," I said, turning my eyes upon my mother. "For eleven years, I kept this family afloat. I paid off your second mortgage. I covered Dad’s bad investments. I paid Rosalind’s credit card bills every single December so she could pretend to be a socialite. And the moment my husband betrayed me, your only concern was making sure she didn't face consequences. You didn't ask about Leo. You didn't ask about Clara. You didn't care if my babies had a mother, as long as your precious golden child was protected."
I reached into my handbag, pulled out three key fobs, and dropped them into the puddle at my father's feet. They were the keys to the country-club memberships, the luxury lake house in Geneva that was registered under my company's name, and the corporate credit cards they had abused for a decade.
"As of twelve noon today, all corporate lines of credit are terminated," I told them. "The lake house locks have been changed. The security team has orders to arrest anyone who steps foot on the property. And if any of you comes within five hundred feet of my children, my house, or my offices, I will have you arrested for criminal harassment without a second warning."
"You can't do this to us!" Arthur roared, tears of rage spilling from his eyes. "We're your family!"
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"No," I replied, opening the door of the Navigator and stepping inside. "You were my parasites. And today, I cut the cord."
The heavy door closed with a solid, airtight thud. Marcus pulled the vehicle away from the curb, leaving the three of them standing in the rain, screaming into the empty city streets as their world of unearned luxury evaporated into thin air.
