Chapter 3 - The Eviction of a Tyrant
The boarding house on Wabash Avenue was a crumbling brick structure that smelled of stale grease and damp wood. At 8:00 PM, a man named Gary Vance—a bloated, cruel-faced landlord with a cigar clamped between his teeth—was sitting behind a rusted metal desk in the basement office, counting a stack of dirty twenty-dollar bills.
The heavy iron door of the office didn't just open. It was thrown off its hinges, slamming against the concrete floor with a deafening crash that made the lightbulb above hiss violently.
Gary Vance jumped out of his chair, his hand reaching toward a heavy iron pipe beneath his desk. “What the hell do you think you're—”
Andrew Whitmore walked through the dust, flanked by two of the top corporate lawyers in the state of Illinois and a senior inspector from the city's housing authority. Andrew didn't look angry; he looked like a god of execution.
“Gary Vance,” Andrew said, his voice a smooth, low vibration that made the cigar drop from the landlord’s mouth. “Five days ago, you illegal evicted Mary Grace Fitzgerald. You threw her five-year-old daughter’s belongings into a public corridor and locked her out in a freezing wind.”
“She was late on rent!” Vance snarled, trying to find his courage. “I run a business here, pal! I don't run a charity for deadbeats!”
The senior lawyer stepped forward, dropping a thick leather folder onto the desk. “At 7:15 PM tonight, Whitmore Capital purchased the primary mortgage of this building, along with the adjacent properties on this entire block. At 7:30 PM, the city housing authority issued thirty-seven separate code violations against this structure for black mold, faulty wiring, and structural endangerment.”
Vance’s mouth opened slightly, his eyes darting frantically across the documents. “You... you bought my building?”
“I bought your life, Gary,” Andrew said, leaning over the desk until his cold gray eyes were inches from the landlord's face. “You have exactly ten minutes to pack whatever garbage you can carry in your hands and leave this property. If I see you on this block past 8:15, my legal team will file a multi-million dollar civil suit for intentional endangerment of a minor, followed by a criminal complaint for illegal eviction. You will spend the next ten years in a state penitentiary.”
Vance stared at Andrew’s immaculate wool coat, the unyielding power radiating from his frame, and realized he wasn't dealing with a man. He was dealing with a corporate bulldozer.
May you like
Without a single word, the landlord grabbed his jacket, shoved his cash into his pockets, and ran out into the rainy Chicago night.
Andrew turned to his security chief. “Marcus, bring a demolition crew here by morning. Flatten this place. I want a park built on this corner by the end of the month. Call it the Lauren Fitzgerald Sanctuary.”
