Chapter 5 - The Ambush at the Office
By noon, word had clearly reached Beverly that her world was crumbling.
I was back at my office in central Phoenix, reviewing financial models for an institutional client, when the front desk intercom buzzed urgently.
""Kristin, I'm so sorry to interrupt,"" my executive assistant, Sarah, whispered frantically. ""Your mother and sister are in the lobby. They pushed past security and are demanding to see you. Beverly is screaming at the receptionist, and Joanna is recording everything on her phone.""
I closed my laptop smoothly. ""Let them in, Sarah. And make sure our building security guards stand right outside my office doors.""
Ten seconds later, my double glass doors flew open. Beverly marched in like an enraged hurricane, wearing oversized designer sunglasses and brandishing a Louis Vuitton handbag like a weapon. Joanna stormed in behind her, wearing activewear, her face flushed with venomous fury.
""How dare you!"" Beverly shrieked, slamming her purse onto my immaculate glass conference table. ""How dare you embarrass me in front of my bank manager! Every single credit card in my wallet was declined this morning! Joanna’s luxury lease was flagged for repossession! Have you lost your mind?!""
""You ruined my life!"" Joanna screamed, thrusting her phone in my face. ""Harper got kicked out of preschool this morning because you reversed the tuition wire! Her principal called me in front of all the other mothers! You humiliated us, Kristin! Over a stupid argument between two toddlers?!""
I sat calmly behind my desk, my fingers laced together, looking at them with detached pity.
""Lower your voices,"" I said quietly.
""Do not tell me to lower my voice!"" Beverly snarled, leaning over my desk, her face inches from mine. ""You are an ungrateful, spiteful little brat! Everything you have, you owe to this family! You sit in this high-rise office playing the big executive, while your own flesh and blood can't even buy groceries! You will turn those wire transfers back on right now, or I will make sure everyone in this city knows what kind of monster you are!""
""Are you finished?"" I asked, my voice chillingly level.
Joanna crossed her arms, sneering. ""You think you can play hardball? We have friends in media, Kristin. One post about how you let your mother starve and kicked your four-year-old niece out of school, and your fancy consulting clients will drop you overnight.""
""You want to talk about starvation, Beverly?"" I opened my desk drawer and pulled out the certified copy of the inheritance waiver Marcus had given me. I slid it across the glass surface until it tapped against Beverly’s manicured fingers. ""Let's talk about November 14th, seven years ago.""
Beverly looked down. The color instantly drained from her face. Her arrogant sneer froze into a rigid, horrified mask.
""What... what is this?"" she stammered, taking a half-step back.
""That is the forged waiver of inheritance you and Arthur Pendelton filed with the probate court while I was working in London,"" I stated, enunciating every syllable clearly. ""The waiver where you forged my signature to steal Dad's commercial properties. The properties that generate ninety thousand dollars a month. The properties you have been illegally siphoning for seven years while taking eighteen thousand dollars a month out of my pocket.""
Joanna blinked, looking between our mother and the paper. ""Mom... what is she talking about?""
""Shut up, Joanna!"" Beverly snapped, her voice trembling for the first time. She looked back at me, her eyes wild with panic. ""Kristin... listen to me. You don't understand the circumstances. Your father... the taxes were complicated. Arthur said—""
""Arthur is facing a grand jury indictment by the end of the week,"" I cut her off. ""Marcus Sterling filed an emergency petition two hours ago. The probate judge signed an ex parte freeze order at twelve-thirty. Every trust account is locked. The commercial rental income has been diverted to an escrow account under my sole name. And the offshore LLC in the Cayman Islands? The one funding your boyfriend's horse ranch, Joanna?""
Joanna gasped, clutching her chest. ""How do you know about that?!""
""The bank holding the secondary mortgage on that ranch just received notice of fraudulent collateralization,"" I said, standing up to my full height. ""By tomorrow morning, the Highline Equestrian Center will be subject to immediate foreclosure seizure.""
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Beverly’s knees buckled slightly. She grabbed the edge of the desk to steady herself, her breath coming in shallow, ragged gasps. ""Kristin... please. You can't do this. That ranch... everything we have is tied to that ranch. We will be ruined. We’ll be homeless!""
""You should have thought about that,"" I whispered, walking around the desk toward them, ""before you called the police to terrify my five-year-old daughter.""
