Chapter 5 - The Final Accounting
The front door opened with a burst of drunken laughter.
"I'm telling you, Ash," Donald’s voice boomed.
"Alisha is too stupid to ever figure it out."
"She’ll keep sending those checks until she drops dead."
"And then we’ll just claim the life insurance."
A woman’s high-pitched giggle followed.
"You're a genius, Donny. I want that diamond tennis bracelet tomorrow."
"You got it, baby. Anything for the queen."
They walked into the kitchen and stopped.
I didn't turn on the lights.
I let the moonlight hit the side of my face.
"The queen is in the room, Donald," I said.
"But I don't see any diamonds."
The silence that followed was heavy and suffocating.
Donald dropped his keys.
Ashley let out a small, sharp gasp.
"Alisha?" Donald stammered. "What... what are you doing here?"
"How did you get in?"
"I paid for the locks, Donald," I said, standing up slowly.
"I paid for the floor you're standing on."
"I paid for the clothes that woman is wearing."
He tried to recover his bravado. He reached for his phone.
"You're crazy. You're supposed to be in Miami."
"Big Mike is going to—"
"Big Mike is currently being detained by federal agents at his club," Elias said, stepping out of the shadows.
"He was very chatty. He told them everything about your little 'logistics' partnership."
Donald’s face went from pale to gray.
"Alisha, honey, let’s talk about this," he pleaded.
"I did it for us. I wanted to build something big."
"Your parents... they were getting old, they needed a different kind of care..."
I walked up to him and slapped him so hard his lip split.
"You left my son to starve in a subway station," I hissed.
"You let your mother tell him I was dead."
"You used my love for my family to fund a life for a stripper."
Ashley tried to bolt for the door, but Elias caught her arm.
"You're not going anywhere, Ashley," I said.
"The police are on their way. They found the 'stash' in the back."
"And since your name is on the secondary deed, you're going down as an accomplice."
Brenda, Donald’s mother, came running down the stairs in her nightgown.
"What is this noise? Donald, what’s happening?"
She saw me and froze.
"The 'burden' is back, Brenda," I said.
"And she’s taking the house."
"Pack your bags. You have five minutes to leave."
"You can't do that!" Brenda shrieked. "This is our home!"
"No," I said, holding up a document Elias had prepared.
"This is a crime scene."
The sirens began to wail in the distance, getting closer with every second.
Donald fell to his knees, sobbing just like my father had at the subway station.
But there was no mercy in my heart.
"You told me Keaton was at the top of his class," I said.
"Now he’s going to watch you go to the bottom of the system."
The police swarmed the house.
Donald and Ashley were led away in handcuffs.
Brenda was left on the sidewalk, clutching a single suitcase.
I stood on the porch of the white colonial house as the sun began to rise.
I called the hotel.
"Mom? Dad?"
"It’s over."
"The house is yours. Truly yours this time."
I looked at the garden of white roses.
They were beautiful, but they were planted in soil that had been poisoned by lies.
I would tear them all out.
I would replant the garden with something stronger.
I would spend every penny of the remaining money to make sure Keaton forgot the smell of the subway.
I would spend the rest of my life making sure my parents felt like the royalty they were.
As I watched the tow truck take away Donald’s yacht, I felt a strange sense of peace.
I had been a caregiver for five years.
But I realized I wasn't just good at taking care of people.
I was very, very good at taking out the trash.
May you like
I went inside, closed the door, and for the first time in five years...
I was home.
