Chapter 4 - The Eviction at Dawn
"You have five minutes," I said, standing tall and glancing at my platinum wristwatch. The hands pointed to 4:45 AM. The sky outside was just beginning to turn from pitch black to a bruised, icy indigo.
Evelyn looked around the palatial foyer—the imported Italian marble, the Austrian crystal chandelier, the oil paintings that had hung on these walls for three generations. "Five minutes? For what?! You can't throw me out of my own home! Even if the trust owns it, I am a legal resident! You have to file a formal eviction notice! You have to give me thirty days!"
"Under normal civil tenancy laws, that might be true, Mrs. Cole," Marcus Sterling interjected smoothly, pulling a second document from his briefcase. "However, pursuant to Section 4B of the municipal criminal code, any occupant who commits aggravated domestic violence and attempted second-degree murder on the premises forfeits all legal tenancy rights immediately upon the issuance of an emergency judicial protective order."
Marcus turned the page. A bright red official court seal gleamed under the foyer lights, signed thirty minutes ago by the chief administrative judge of the county district court.
"Furthermore," Marcus added, "the district attorney’s office has already reviewed the 4K surveillance footage of you and your daughter physically battering Mrs. Claire Cole, dragging her into sub-zero elements, and dousing her with freezing water. Arrest warrants for attempted vehicular manslaughter, aggravated assault resulting in serious bodily injury, and felony elder abuse were signed at four o'clock this morning."
As if on cue, the sound of traditional police sirens finally echoed up the winding driveway. Four county cruiser lights cast strobes of red and blue through the large bay windows, painting the snowy lawn in flashes of neon crimson.
"No! No, please, Ethan!" Natalie shrieked, crawling on her hands and knees across the marble floor toward my shoes. "I didn't mean it! Mom made me do it! Mom said if we didn't force Claire to sign the property over tonight, the trust would close permanently! She promised me two million dollars if I helped her hold Claire down! Please don't let them arrest me! I can't go to prison! I'm only twenty-four!"
I stepped back, watching her with absolute, unyielding disgust. "You watched a woman freeze in twenty-degree weather while you drank my father’s wine. You laughed while she begged for her inhaler. You have no humanity, Natalie. And the state of New York has very little mercy for monsters."
Two uniformed state troopers, accompanied by a female detective with a badge clipped to her lapel, marched into the foyer.
"Evelyn Cole? Natalie Vance?" the detective asked, scanning the room before locking eyes on the two trembling women.
"Officers, thank God you're here!" Evelyn cried, stumbling toward them with outstretched arms. "My stepson brought private armed mercenaries to terrorize us! Look at them! They have tactical rifles! Arrest them!"
The detective didn't even look at Viktor or his men. She pulled two pairs of high-tensile steel handcuffs from her tactical belt. "Evelyn Cole, you are under arrest for attempted murder in the second degree, aggravated assault, and unlawful imprisonment. Turn around and put your hands behind your back."
"What?! Are you insane?!" Evelyn screamed as the female officer grabbed her arm, twisting it behind her back with practiced efficiency. The silk robe slipped from her shoulder, revealing the cheap, panicked desperation underneath. "Do you know who my friends are?! I sit on the board of the Philharmonic! I host fundraisers for the Mayor!"
"You can tell the magistrate all about your fundraisers at eight o'clock, ma'am," the officer replied coldly, clicking the steel ratchets tight around Evelyn's manicured wrists.
Natalie tried to scramble toward the rear kitchen door, but two troopers blocked her path, pinning her against the wall and securing her hands behind her back. Her shrill, hysterical wails filled the foyer, echoing down the long hallways where she had once strutted like a queen.
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"Ethan! You bastard! Your father will curse you from his grave!" Evelyn spat, her face purple with rage as she was dragged toward the front doors. "I made him happy! I gave this family everything!"
"You gave this family a sickness," I replied as they dragged her past me. "And tonight, the fever broke."
