Chapter 7 - The Total Ruin"NO!" a screech echoed from the doorway.
Patricia had burst into the boardroom, her face contorted in rage and desperation. She had been listening at the door.
"You malicious, vile creature!" Patricia screamed, pointing a shaking, withered finger at me. "You stole my son's company! You're trying to take my house?! You can't take my home! It has been in the Vance family for forty years!"
I stood up slowly from my chair. The entire boardroom went dead silent.
"Your home was built on debts your family could never pay, Patricia," I said, my voice carrying a terrifying coldness. "You spent forty years putting down women, abusing your daughters-in-law, and worshipping sons who couldn't even run a lemonade stand without my money. You sat at the head table while my daughters were served leftovers on the floor."
"They are just GIRLS!" Patricia shrieked, tears of fury spilling down her wrinkled cheeks. "They don't carry our blood! They don't matter!"
"Those 'girls' are my daughters," I replied, stepping out from behind the desk and walking up to her until I was standing inches from her face. "And today, those girls own every chair, every brick, and every blade of grass your family ever bragged about."
I turned to Marcus. "Is the eviction notice ready?"
"Signed by the District Sheriff an hour ago," Marcus replied, pulling a red-stamped paper from his portfolio. "Mrs. Patricia Vance has until 5:00 PM today to clear her personal belongings from the Richmond estate. At 5:01 PM, the locks will be changed, and the property will be prepped for public auction."
Patricia collapsed onto her knees on the marble floor, sobbing hysterically, clutching Andrew’s pant legs. "Andrew! Do something! Save my house! Tell her to stop!"
Andrew fell to his knees beside his mother, looking up at me with absolute, broken desperation.
"Lauren... please," Andrew begged, actual tears streaming down his face. "Please don't do this to my mother. She’s old. Please... I’ll do anything. I’ll apologize on national television. I’ll kneel in front of Sophia and Chloe. I’ll give you whatever you want! Just don't destroy us!"
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I looked down at the man I had once loved, now reduced to a begging, weeping wreck on the floor.
"You had ten years to treat my daughters like royalty, Andrew," I said quietly. "You chose to treat them like trash. Now, you can spend the rest of your life learning what it feels like to live on leftovers."
