Chapter 5 - The Invitation to the Trap
Two weeks later, the final phase of my plan fell into place.
My parents and Olivia had been forced to move out of their Scottsdale mansion into a cramped, run-down two-bedroom apartment on the outskirts of Phoenix. Their friends had vanished like ghosts in the desert heat; nobody wanted to associate with a disgraced developer facing federal fraud charges and a bankrupt boutique owner.
Desperation makes people do stupid things. In Olivia and my parents' case, it made them reckless.
I received a registered letter at my office—a formal legal notice from an attorney they had somehow managed to hire on contingency. They were trying to sue me for defamation, harassment, and intentional infliction of emotional distress, claiming that my "malicious interference" had destroyed their lives.
It was laughable. It was also exactly what I was waiting for.
Instead of fighting the lawsuit, my corporate lawyer filed a motion for an immediate settlement conference. I offered them a way out. A complete cessation of all legal proceedings, a clearance of their debts, and enough cash to start over in a different state.
There was only one condition:
They had to meet me in person.
Not at a lawyer's office. Not in neutral territory.
They had to meet me at my parents' former house—the one that had just been foreclosed on, but whose keys I had legally acquired through a corporate acquisition holding company three days prior.
The meeting was set for a Friday evening at sunset. Exactly one month to the day after the baby shower. Exactly one month to the day since they watched me sink to the bottom of that pool.
When I pulled up to the house in my sleek black sports car, the sun was casting long, bleeding streaks of orange and purple across the Arizona sky.
They were already standing on the front patio.
Mom looked gaunt, wearing a cheap coat instead of her usual furs. Dad looked older, his shoulders permanently slouched under the weight of his failures. Olivia looked angry, her eyes bloodshot, glaring at me with pure, unadulterated hatred as I stepped out of the vehicle.
"You think you're so smart, don't you?" Olivia snapped, marching toward me before I even reached the walkway. "You destroyed us! You took everything!"
"I took back what you stole," I replied evenly, adjusting my sunglasses. "And I simply accelerated the consequences of your own incompetence."
"Where is the lawyer?" Dad demanded, his voice shaking with suppressed rage. "Where are the settlement papers? We signed the non-disclosure agreements you sent. Give us the money and let us leave this hellhole."
I stopped right at the edge of the sparkling blue swimming pool in the backyard. The water was still, reflecting the bruised colors of the evening sky.
"The papers are inside," I said softly. "But before we sign anything... I want to show you something."
May you like
Mom crossed her arms, shivering in the desert chill. "We don't want to see anything, Rachel. Just give us the check and let us get away from you."
"Oh, you'll want to see this," I said, turning to face them with a smile that didn't reach my eyes. "After all, this is where it all started."
