Chapter 4 - The House of Cards CollapsesBy noon, the news had hit Wall Street and local Los Angeles real estate circles like a localized earthquake.
Crestview Construction Faces Immediate Insolvency. Stanford Global Trust Pulls All Funding. disgraced CEO Edwin Vance Investigated for Fraud.
Back at the Bel Air mansion, the chaos was reaching its peak. Movers hired by the bank were already standing outside the wrought-iron gates with legal repossession orders.
Beverly and Annika were thrown out onto the manicured lawn, screaming obscenities while their designer luggage and handfuls of fake luxury handbags were tossed onto the grass behind them.
“You can’t do this!” Beverly shrieked, clawing at a security guard's uniform. “Do you know who I am? My son is a CEO!”
“Your son was a tenant,” a cold, familiar voice answered.
Camila stepped out of a sleek black Rolls-Royce, her expression unreadable. She walked up the stone steps of the mansion she had spent five years cleaning, cooking, and crying in, treating every step like a coronation.
Edwin stumbled out of the front door, looking completely unhinged. The massive Caucasian Shepherd that had been used to terrorize her the night before whimpered, cowering behind Camila’s ankles instead, sensing the shift in supreme authority.
“Camila... please,” Edwin choked out, crawling down the steps and grabbing the hem of her trousers. “We’ve been married for five years! Think of our history! I made a mistake, I was stressed, Beverly pushed me—please, just drop the lawsuits. Let’s talk about this inside.”
Camila looked down at the man who had laughed at her father's death just hours ago. She didn't feel rage anymore. She felt only a profound, liberating emptiness.
She gently pulled her trousers out of his grip.
“Inside?” Camila smiled faintly. “This house was purchased with my father's wedding gift to me. And as of ten minutes ago, it has been reclassified as a corporate archive. You don't live here anymore, Edwin.”
May you like
She turned her back on him, walking through the grand double doors while the heavy locks clicked into place behind her.
Edwin screamed into the empty air, his voice breaking into ragged sobs as the rain began to fall once more, washing away the last remnants of his pathetic empire.
