Chapter 6 - The Scramble
By 2:00 PM, the Beverly Hills mansion felt less like a palace and more like a tomb.
The tow trucks had gone, leaving behind empty spaces in the garage and dark grease stains on the pristine white driveway. Julian and Chloe sat at the massive kitchen island, surrounded by a mountain of declined credit cards and legal documents.
"This can't be legal," Chloe whispered, her voice trembling. Her manicured nails were biting into the marble countertop. "She can't just cut us off! We live here! We're family!"
"I'm calling Marcus," Julian said, his hands shaking as he dialed the number of the head foreman at Vance Construction. Marcus had been with the company for twenty years. He was loyal to the Vance name.
"Marcus! Thank God," Julian gasped when the call connected. "There's some kind of mistake with the corporate accounts. My cards are frozen, and—"
"Julian," Marcus interrupted, his voice unusually flat, devoid of the usual warm respect. "I can't help you."
"What do you mean you can't help me? I'm the Vice President! Tell the accounting department to override the freeze!"
"There is no override, Julian," Marcus said slowly. "Margaret was here at 6:00 AM today. She brought the board of directors. She showed us the police report, the medical records, and the photographs of her face."
There was a heavy, suffocating silence on the line.
"She... she showed you what?" Julian whispered, a cold sweat breaking out on his neck.
"We saw what you did to her, Julian," Marcus said, his voice turning cold and hard as iron. "Your father would have killed you with his bare hands if he saw what you did to his wife. The board voted unanimously this morning. You are terminated from Vance Construction, effective immediately, for gross misconduct and violation of the moral turpitude clause in your employment contract. You're banned from all properties. Don't come back here, Julian. The guys on the site... they aren't very happy with you right now."
The line went dead.
Julian stared at his phone, his breathing shallow and rapid. "She fired me," he whispered. "She fired me from my own company."
"What?" Chloe shrieked, standing up so fast her chair screeched against the floor. "She fired you? How is that possible? You're the heir!"
"She owns the voting shares, Chloe!" Julian yelled, his composure finally shattering. "I told you we should have forced her to sign them over last year! But you said to wait, you said she would die soon anyway!"
"Don't you dare blame this on me!" Chloe screamed back. "You're the one who lost his temper and beat her up! I told you to intimidate her, not turn her into a martyr!"
Before Julian could answer, the heavy front doors of the mansion rattled with a loud, authoritative knock.
Julian scrambled to the door, hoping against hope that it was a delivery, or perhaps a representative from the bank offering an apology.
Instead, he found two deputies from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department standing on the porch. The older deputy held a bright red envelope.
"Julian Vance?" the deputy asked.
"Yes?"
"You are being served with an immediate, emergency eviction notice for the property located at 1420 Laurel Canyon Road," the deputy said, handing him the envelope. "According to the property owner, Vance Holdings LLC, you are currently occupying this residence without a valid lease or ownership title. You have forty-eight hours to vacate the premises with all personal belongings. If you are still on the property after 12:00 PM on Thursday, you will be arrested for criminal trespass."
Julian felt the air leave his lungs. He looked past the deputy at the beautiful, sun-drenched street.
May you like
"Forty-eight hours?" he croaked. "But... where are we supposed to go?"
The deputy didn't answer. He simply turned and walked back to his patrol car, leaving Julian holding the red envelope of his own destruction.
