Chapter 7 - Reclaiming My Mother’s Legacy
Headline: "My husband’s mistress tried to corner me at my mother's memorial service. She didn't expect me to show her the eviction notice."With Richard behind bars awaiting trial, I finally had the time and space to breathe.
Charles and I organized a private memorial service for my mother, Evelyn. We held it in the rose gardens of the Whitmore estate, the very place she had loved to play as a child before the family fell apart. It was a beautiful, quiet ceremony attended only by a few close friends who had remembered her, and the family that had spent twenty years wishing she would come home.
I stood in front of her memorial plaque, holding a single white rose.
"I wish I could have known you, Mom," I whispered. "I wish you could see me now. I’m not hiding anymore. I’m not letting anyone make me feel small."
"She would be incredibly proud of you, Lisa," Charles said, stepping up beside me and placing a hand on my shoulder. "You have her spirit. You took a terrible situation and handled it with more grace and strength than I could have ever hoped for."
As we turned to walk back to the manor, my assistant, Sarah, approached us with a look of concern on her face.
"Lisa," she said softly. "There’s someone at the gate. A woman named Amanda. She’s demanding to speak with you. She says she has information about Richard."
I frowned. Amanda. I knew that name.
She was Richard’s administrative assistant at the Whitmore Group. During the audit, we had discovered that Richard had been using company funds to pay for an expensive luxury apartment in the city center—an apartment registered under Amanda’s name. She wasn't just his assistant; she was his mistress.
"Let her in," I said. "I want to hear what she has to say."
A few minutes later, Amanda was escorted into the conservatory. She looked nervous, her expensive designer handbag clutched tightly against her chest like a shield. She had been used to a life of luxury funded by Richard’s theft, but now that the faucet had been turned off, she looked desperate.
"Lisa," Amanda said, trying to project a confidence she didn't have. "We need to talk. I know you think Richard is the bad guy here, but he was forced into this. He only took that money because he was trying to support you! He was trying to give you the life you wanted!"
I almost laughed. "Is that what he told you, Amanda? While you were staying in the three-million-dollar penthouse he bought with stolen company money?"
Amanda’s face flushed. "That apartment is in my name! You can't touch it! It’s mine!"
"Actually," I said, taking a document from Sarah and handing it to her, "the apartment was purchased using a corporate shell company owned by the Whitmore Group. Since Richard’s assets have been seized, and the shell company has been dissolved, that property has reverted to the main estate. That document in your hand is an eviction notice. You have forty-eight hours to pack your things and vacate the premises."
Amanda stared at the paper, her eyes wide with horror. "You... you can't do this to me! I have nowhere to go! Richard promised me we would be together! He promised he would get his hands on your grandfather's money!"
"Richard is going to federal prison for the next fifteen years, Amanda," I said, my voice steady and cold. "And if you don't leave this property immediately, I will instruct our legal team to file conspiracy charges against you as an accomplice to his embezzlement. I’m sure you’ll look lovely in orange."
May you like
Without another word, Amanda spun on her heel and fled, her expensive heels clicking frantically against the marble floor.
I watched her go, feeling a deep, profound sense of peace. The parasites had finally been cleared out of my life.
