Chapter 5 - The Last Star Rises
A heavy,
suffocating silence fell over the garden as the first guest opened their envelope.
It wasn't a commemorative photo or a heartfelt letter.
It was a comprehensive legal packet.
Inside was the proof of Weston’s three-year embezzlement scheme,
complete with wire transfer receipts to Hadley’s shell company.
There were photos of my parents meeting with Weston’s father,
detailing the debt-for-house agreement.
And at the very top,
printed on bright red paper,
was the eviction notice for the Cumberland property,
effective in exactly sixty minutes.
"What is this?"
Weston shouted,
snatching an envelope from a guest's hand.
His face turned a ghostly shade of white as his eyes darted over the documents.
"Scarlet,
what have you done?"
Hadley clutched the baby tighter,
her eyes widening in terror.
"You can't do this!
This is our home!"
"No,
Hadley,"
I said,
stepping closer to the stage.
"This is my land.
And as of one hour ago,
I have sold the renewal rights to a commercial development firm."
The crowd erupted in murmurs of shock and disgust.
The District Attorney looked at Weston with a cold,
professional glare.
"Mr. Sterling,"
he said,
his voice booming.
"These wire transfers constitute grand larceny and corporate fraud.
I suggest you find a lawyer before the police arrive."
Weston looked at my father,
who was trying to hide behind a rosebush.
"Help me!"
he hissed.
"You’re in this too!"
But my father didn't move.
He was too busy looking at the final document in the packet:
the proof that Weston had already been planning to cut my parents out of the deal once the title was transferred.
"You were going to leave us with nothing?"
my mother shrieked,
hurling her champagne glass at Weston.
"We helped you!"
"You helped a snake,"
I said,
turning to her.
"And you forgot that snakes eat their own."
In the distance,
the low rumble of heavy machinery began to grow louder.
Two massive yellow bulldozers appeared at the end of Cumberland Avenue,
their engines roaring like hungry beasts.
"The Scorched Earth clause,"
I whispered,
looking at the house.
"If I can't have the memories,
no one will have the walls."
The guests began to flee as the demolition crew set up the perimeter.
Weston and Hadley were left standing in the center of the garden,
their white peonies being crushed under the boots of the workers.
"Scarlet,
please!"
Weston begged,
falling to his knees.
"Think of the baby!"
"I am thinking of him,"
I replied,
looking down at the child who had been used as a pawn since his conception.
"I’ve set up a modest trust for his education,
one that you and Hadley can never touch.
He will be the only one in this family with a clean name."
I turned my back on them and walked toward the gate,
where Silas was waiting with his car door open.
"Everything's done,"
Silas said,
checking his watch.
"The police are at the end of the block."
I paused at the entrance and looked back one last time.
The first claw of the bulldozer slammed into the second-floor balcony,
shattering the glass and the lies in a single,
violent motion.
The Cumberland house,
the symbol of my marriage and my misery,
was collapsing into a pile of dust and splinters.
I touched the bracelet on my wrist,
the "First Star" feeling warm now,
as if my grandmother were finally at peace.
"Where to,
Ms. Marguerite?"
Silas asked as we drove away.
I looked at the horizon,
where the first star of the evening was beginning to twinkle in the twilight.
"To the restaurant,"
I said.
"I have a new menu to design."
Weston and Hadley were gone,
my parents were silenced,
and the land was being reclaimed.
I had lost a house,
but I had saved my sky.
And as the last star rose over the city,
I knew that for the first time in eight years,
I was finally home.
The First Star wasn't a destination.
It was the light that showed me I could walk alone.
And as I looked into the rearview mirror,
the dust of the Cumberland estate faded into the darkness,
leaving nothing but the path forward.
May you like
I was Scarlet Marguerite.
And I was finally free.
