Chapter 4 - The Eviction Notice
By 6:00 PM, the mansion was eerily quiet. The party guests had fled the moment they realized the CEO was home and cutting off the funds. The catering trucks had rolled away, leaving the grand dining room cluttered with half-eaten luxury and abandoned champagne flutes.
I had taken Emily upstairs to our master suite—the only room my family hadn't managed to completely remodel into their own tacky version of luxury. I filled a marble basin with warm water and soothing oils, and for an hour, I sat on the edge of the tub, gently washing the grease and industrial soap from her blistered hands.
She hadn't spoken a word. She just watched me, tears silently slipping down her cheeks, as if she was afraid that if she blinked, I would vanish back to Tokyo and the nightmare would resume.
"I'm sorry I took so long to come home, Em," I whispered, kissing the back of her knuckles. "I thought I was building a castle for you. I didn't know I was leaving you in a prison."
"I didn't care about the house, Daniel," she choked out, her voice raw. "I just missed you. When they took my phone and told me you were too busy... I thought you had moved on. I thought you realized a girl like me didn't fit into your billionaire lifestyle anymore."
"Never," I said fiercely, pulling her into a tight hug. "You are my lifestyle. Everything else is just noise."
A loud, aggressive banging on the bedroom door shattered the moment.
"Daniel! Open this door right now!" Margaret’s voice boomed through the hallway. "We are not leaving this house! The deed is in the family name!"
I squeezed Emily’s hand, giving her a reassuring smile. "Stay here. Rest. I’m going to throw out the trash."
I walked down the grand grand staircase. In the foyer, Margaret, Ashley, and Michael stood surrounded by mountains of designer luggage they had spent the afternoon frantically packing. Beside them stood a man in a sharp grey suit—Arthur Pendelton, the senior legal counsel for my corporation, whom I had summoned an hour prior.
"Daniel," Margaret sneered, holding up a legal document. "I called our real estate attorney. This estate was purchased through the Carter Family Trust. As the founding matriarch of the trust, I have a life estate here. You cannot legally evict us without a ninety-day notice!"
Arthur Pendelton stepped forward, adjusting his glasses, a look of profound pity on his face as he looked at my mother. "Actually, Mrs. Carter, you are mistaken. If you look at the amendment made to the trust three years ago... Daniel transferred the primary ownership of the Beverly Hills estate out of the family trust."
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Ashley gasped. "To who?"
"To Emily Carter," Arthur said, sliding a certified copy of the deed across the marble kitchen island. "Legally speaking, this house belongs entirely to Daniel’s wife. And as her legal representation, I am informing you that she has filed an immediate restraining order and trespass notice against all three of you. You have exactly five minutes to leave the property before the Los Angeles Police Department arrives to remove you forcibly."
