Chapter 5 - The Eviction
The afternoon sun was scorching when my black sedan pulled into the long, winding driveway of the River Oaks estate.
Outside the front doors, the scene was chaotic.
Two large yellow moving vans were parked on the circular driveway. My mother and sister were frantically running back and forth between the grand foyer and the vans, carrying designer luggage, mink coats, crystal vases, and velvet jewelry boxes, trying to load as much stolen wealth into the vehicles as possible before the law caught up with them.
"Hurry up, Victoria!" Evelyn screamed, her hair disheveled, her expensive pink suit wrinkled and stained with sweat. "Throw those paintings in the back! The driver says we have twenty minutes before the sheriff gets here!"
"I can't carry all of this, Mom!" Victoria sobbed, dropping a thousand-dollar leather bag onto the gravel, spilling diamond necklaces across the driveway. "Marcus isn't answering his phone! His secretary said he was arrested!"
"Forget Marcus!" Evelyn yelled hysterically. "He’s useless! We’re driving to Atlanta! We have $50,000 in cash in the safe!"
"You don't have $50,000 in the safe, Evelyn."
My voice cut through the hot afternoon air like a falling anvil.
Evelyn and Victoria spun around.
I stepped out of the sedan, followed by two marked sheriff's cruisers and a flatbed tow truck. Behind us came a team of four private security guards wearing uniform shirts that read Vance Security.
"Leo!" Evelyn shrieked, clutching a pearl necklace to her throat. "You... you can't be here! This is my house!"
"Read the document, Mrs. Gardner," the Lead Sheriff’s Deputy said, stepping forward and handing her an official legal order with a red state seal at the top. "This is an Emergency Ex Parte Writs of Possession and Asset Seizure issued by the Mecklenburg County Superior Court. The deed in your name has been declared null and void due to proven forgery. The legal owner of this property is Leo Gardner."
"No!" Victoria screamed, grabbing the deputy’s arm. "You can't kick us out! All of this stuff belongs to us!"
"Every item in this house was purchased using funds stolen from my bank accounts, Victoria," I said, walking past her toward the front doors. "Under the civil forfeiture order, every piece of clothing, every piece of jewelry, every car, and every piece of furniture in this house is officially impounded as evidence of grand larceny."
The private security guards stepped into the moving vans, taking the luggage out and setting it back onto the driveway. The flatbed tow truck pulled up beside Victoria’s white Mercedes-Benz, hooking its chains beneath the chassis and hoisting it into the air.
"MY CAR!" Victoria shrieked, running toward the tow truck. "YOU'RE STEALING MY CAR!"
"It was bought with my sweat, Victoria," I said coldly, watching the luxury car swing into the air. "And now it’s going to an auction to pay for my wife’s medical bills."
Evelyn fell onto her knees on the gravel, clutching my trouser leg as she had done at the bank, her face distorted by wild, desperate hysteria.
"Leo! Please! I'm your mother! You can't throw me into the street with nothing! Where am I supposed to go?! Where am I supposed to sleep?!"
I looked down at her, pointing my thumb toward the back of the estate.
"There’s an old storage shed behind the garage, Evelyn," I said, my voice completely devoid of mercy. "It has a stained mattress and a rusty padlock. You can stay there until the deputies haul you to the county jail."
Evelyn gasped, looking at me as if I had struck her across the face.
The lead deputy pulled her to her feet, clicking heavy steel handcuffs onto her wrists. "Evelyn Gardner, Victoria Gardner, you are under arrest for grand larceny, criminal forgery, and felony unlawful imprisonment."
As the deputies loaded my mother and sister into the back of the police cruisers, the neighborhood residents gathered at the edge of the street, taking videos on their phones, whispering and pointing at the fallen socialites who had spent five years pretending to be royalty on stolen money.
Victoria wept uncontrollably against the tinted glass of the cruiser. Evelyn sat rigid, her eyes fixed on the grand mansion she had tried to steal, realizing that her life of luxury was officially, permanently over.
The police cars drove away, their red and blue lights flashing against the oak trees, leaving the estate in total, peaceful silence.
I stood on the front steps of my home, taking a deep, clean breath of air for the first time in five years.
Samuel walked up beside me, handing me a ring of heavy brass keys.
"The house is yours, Leo," Samuel said softly. "The charges against them are ironclad. The District Attorney is seeking ten years for Evelyn and eight for Victoria. They won't ever touch your family again."
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"Thank you, Sam," I said, taking the keys. "For everything."
"Don't thank me," Samuel smiled, looking back at the sedan that had just pulled into the driveway. "Go see your family."
