Chapter 9 - Ashes to DustBack at the luxury estate—now officially designated as Stark Global Executive Property #4—the moving trucks had finally arrived.
Eleanor and her daughters stood on the gravel driveway under the midday sun, watching their remaining designer wardrobes and expensive trinkets get tossed haphazardly into cheap cardboard boxes by professional eviction crews.
As my car rolled up the circular drive, Eleanor stumbled forward, her hair unbrushed, her face swollen from crying, her expensive silk blouse wrinkled and stained.
She threw herself in front of the vehicle, forcing my driver to hit the brakes with a sharp screech.
"Elena! Stop! Please!" Eleanor sobbed, pressing her trembling hands against the hood of the car.
The security guards moved to intervene, but I raised a hand, signaling them to wait. I opened the door and stepped out onto the gravel, looking down at the fallen matriarch who had once smiled so brightly as her son handed me divorce papers.
"Look at me, Eleanor," I said softly.
Eleanor raised her tear-streaked face, her eyes filled with a desperate, crushing humility. "We have nowhere to go," she whispered, her voice cracking. "Our bank accounts are seized, our friends won't answer our calls, and the society we built... it's all gone. Have mercy."
I looked down at her calmly.
"Mercy, Eleanor?" I asked. "When you watched your son strike me in my own kitchen, when you called me your maid and laughed as you handed me a divorce notice in front of everyone... did you show mercy?"
May you like
Eleanor flinched as if she had been slapped.
"You built your entire life on a foundation of cruelty and stolen credit," I said, turning my back on her and walking toward the grand front entrance. "You wanted the maid to leave the house, Eleanor. Well... the maid is gone. And now, you get to experience the real world."
Related Stories
