Chapter 6 - The Eviction Notice
Three days later, the movers arrived at the Gold Coast condo.
They weren't moving my things out—they were seizing Diane’s assets.
Armed with a court-ordered writ of attachment and accompanied by two Cook County sheriff’s deputies, Katherine Sterling and I stood in the grand foyer of the apartment where Diane had ruled like an autocrat for three decades.
The white roses in the crystal vases were already wilting. The ivory rug where Lily’s soup had spilled was now marked with official yellow evidence tags placed by our private investigator.
Diane sat in her velvet armchair, refusing to stand, her face pale and sunken beneath her heavy makeup. Brooke was sobbing loudly in the corner, clutching her smartphone as she frantically tried to call friends who had already blocked her number the moment the news broke on financial news networks.
Jason stood by the dining table where he had sat eating his steak three nights ago. He looked smaller, defeated, his shoulders permanently hunched.
"You can't do this," Jason whispered as I walked past him toward the master bedroom to retrieve the last of Lily’s belongings. "Emily... we've been married three years. We can go to counseling. We can move out of the city. Just... please don't take everything."
I stopped and looked at him. The man who couldn't wash a plate, who couldn't tell his mother no, who watched his two-year-old daughter get struck across the face and did nothing.
"Jason," I said quietly. "Do you remember what I told you on your mother’s birthday, right before I slapped you?"
He swallowed hard, nodding mutely.
"By Diane’s rules, shouldn't somebody hit you every time you fail?" I said. "Well, life hit you. And unlike your mother, life doesn't stop swinging just because you start crying."
I walked into the master bedroom, packed the remaining baby clothes into a canvas duffel bag, and zipped it shut.
When I came back out, Katherine was handing Diane a thick stack of legal papers.
"Eviction notice," Katherine said cheerfully. "Since this condo was purchased using embezzled trust funds originally allocated to Emily’s marital estate settlements, the court has ordered immediate forfeiture. You have forty-eight hours to vacate the premises, Mrs. Bennett."
May you like
Diane let out a low, animalistic growl, clutching her chest as her breathing turned shallow. "My heart... Jason, call an ambulance..."
"The ambulance is already outside," Katherine noted smoothly, glancing at her watch. "Along with reporters from the Chicago Tribune who are very interested in how a charitable foundation run by the Bennett family managed to misappropriate four million dollars in real estate assets."
