Chapter 6 - The Digital EvictionThe silence in the executive office after the computer chime was absolute.
Marlene stared dumbly at the glowing screen as if hoping the letters would magically change back to spell her own name. Her lips parted in a silent, horrified gasp.
“What... what just happened?” Marlene whispered, her voice trembling violently.
I reached into my canvas bag, pulled out a spare tablet I had kept tucked safely inside, and slid it across the mahogany desk toward her.
Marlene looked down at the screen.
It displayed the official, real-time property transfer deed for the Bel-Air estate and the suburban family home. Below the legal descriptions, glowing in bright, unyielding green text, was a single status update:
PROPERTY OWNERSHIP: CLARA VANCE. SOLE BENEFICIARY.
EVICTION NOTICE AUTOMATICALLY GENERATED PURSUANT TO SECTION 4, PARAGRAPH C.
“No,” Marlene choked out, shaking her head frantically as she backed away from the desk. “No, this isn't real! You hacked the system! You and Marcus forged these documents!”
“Every digital signature is cryptographically verified by the state bar association and the federal trust registry, Mrs. Vance,” Marcus said smoothly, snapping his leather briefcase shut with a sharp click. “There is no forgery. The system has executed exactly as your late husband designed it to do the moment you physically assaulted his daughter and breached the terms of residency.”
Marlene’s knees buckled slightly. She grabbed the edge of the filing cabinet to steady herself.
“You can’t throw me out,” she sobbed, the tough, arrogant socialite facade completely shattering into pathetic desperation. “Where are we supposed to go? Jason has no job! We don't have savings! All our cash was tied up in the quarterly maintenance disbursements!”
“Disbursements that you illegally diverted from corporate accounts for personal luxury expenses over the past thirty-six months,” I added calmly, stepping around the desk until I stood just inches away from her. “Marcus has already filed the preliminary forensic audit with the district attorney’s office. You’re lucky we’re starting with civil eviction instead of criminal embezzlement.”
Marlene looked up at me, her eyes bloodshot, filled with a mixture of pure hatred and bottomless terror.
“You’re a monster,” Marlene whispered, her voice cracking. “After everything I did for you... after I raised you under my roof—”
“You didn't raise me, Marlene,” I interrupted, my voice cutting through her words like a knife. “You imprisoned me. You treated me like a servant in my own home while you tried to erase every memory of my father. Well, the game is over.”
I turned to Marcus. “Call the local property deputies. Have them serve the formal twenty-four-hour vacate notice to the occupants at the suburban residence immediately.”
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“Right away, Clara,” Marcus nodded, picking up his desk phone.
Marlene let out a choked, desperate cry, turned around blindly, and bolted out of the office toward the elevators, sobbing hysterically into her hands as the doors closed behind her.
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