Chapter 4 - The Eviction
Agnes gasped, her eyes wide with utter disbelief. "What?! Leo, you can't be serious! This is my home! You bought this mansion for me!"
"I bought this mansion with my money," Leo said, his voice dropping into a ice-cold tone that made Agnes's stomach drop. "My name is on the deed. My name is on every utility account, every credit card, and every vehicle in that garage. You do not own a single brick of this estate, Agnes."
"Leo, you can't throw your own mother out onto the street!" Agnes shrieked, her voice turning high-pitched and hysterical. "It's two o'clock in the afternoon! Where are we supposed to go?!"
"I don't care if you sleep under a bridge," Leo spat, taking a step toward her. "Mark, grab their arms."
The security guards moved with cold, professional efficiency. Mark grabbed Agnes’s arm, while David pulled Chloe up from the sofa by her elbow, ignoring her loud, dramatic screams.
"Get your hands off me, you ape!" Chloe screamed, thrashing against David’s grip. "Leo, tell him to let me go! I’m your sister!"
"You're not my sister anymore," Leo said, looking at Chloe with total disgust. "You sat on that sofa and laughed while my wife bled out from internal surgery. You ate pizza while my mother swung an iron pan at her head. You are a disgusting, vile monster."
Leo turned to his executive assistant, who was standing quietly near the doorway holding his laptop.
"Sarah," Leo ordered.
"Yes, Mr. Caldwell?"
"Cancel every supplementary credit card issued under Agnes Caldwell and Chloe Caldwell immediately," Leo commanded flatly. "Freeze their access to the family trust accounts. Transfer all authorization rights back to my private account. Terminate the lease on Chloe’s sports car and have the repo agency tow it from the driveway within the hour."
Chloe let out a horrified shriek. "My car?! Leo, no! How am I supposed to drive to my classes?! How am I supposed to live?!"
"You can walk," Leo snapped coldly. "Or you can get a job. Because as of two minutes ago, you don't receive another dime of my money."
Agnes was weeping now, but they were not tears of genuine remorse—they were tears of furious, desperate rage as she watched her life of immense luxury evaporate before her eyes.
"You ungrateful brat!" Agnes screamed at Leo, struggling against Mark’s firm grip on her wrist. "After everything I sacrificed for you! You’re choosing this cheap, worthless girl over your own blood?!"
Leo walked over to his mother, stopping mere inches from her face. His eyes were entirely black with rage.
"That 'cheap girl' is my wife," Leo whispered, every word hit like a hammer blow. "She cleaned your toilets while you berated her. She cooked your meals while you humiliated her. She nearly died two days ago, and you stepped over her body to make tea. If you ever set foot on this property again, Agnes, I won't just evict you. I will press full criminal charges for assault with a deadly weapon and attempted murder."
Agnes froze. She looked at the heavy iron skillet lying on the marble floor beside the shattered Ming vase, and then at the cold, unyielding eyes of her son. For the first time in her life, she realized that she had lost completely.
"Throw them out," Leo told the guards. "Throw their clothes onto the driveway. If they try to step back over the gate, call the police."
The security guards dragged Agnes and Chloe kicking and screaming down the grand hallway and shoved them out through the heavy double front doors. The massive oak doors slammed shut behind them with a loud, absolute thud, locking automatically.
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Outside, the faint sound of Agnes pounding her fists against the wooden doors and Chloe’s hysterical crying echoed through the glass, before fading into complete silence as the security guards escorted them down the long driveway toward the street.
The mansion was finally quiet.
