Chapter 3 - The Cost of a Name
I finally deactivated the siren,
allowing a heavy,
ringing silence to fill the hallway.
I walked to the door,
disengaged the steel shutters,
and opened it just a crack,
keeping the security chain in place.
The police were standing there,
holding Ronald by the arms.
Priscilla was leaning against the wall,
her cream coat stained with dust from the locksmith's drill,
looking like she was on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
“Lexi!”
she hissed,
her eyes wild.
“Tell them!
Tell them this is all a misunderstanding!
Give me the card back,
and we can go home!”
I looked at her,
and for the first time,
I felt nothing.
No anger,
no resentment,
just a profound sense of boredom.
“She doesn't have a home,
Priscilla,”
I said to the officer,
ignoring my ex-mother-in-law entirely.
“The house they live in is owned by a corporation that has just served them an eviction notice.”
Ronald froze.
The "Cobb Family Estate" in Coral Gables,
the house his grandfather had built,
had been lost to back taxes years ago.
I had bought it through a shell company to keep them from being homeless,
letting them think they were still the owners of the "legacy."
“What are you talking about?”
Ronald whispered,
his voice trembling.
“The house is mine.
It’s in the trust.”
“The trust was empty,
Ronald,”
I said,
passing a folder through the crack in the door to the police officer.
“I’ve been paying the property taxes and the maintenance through Aletheia for four years.
And as of six a.m.
this morning,
Aletheia has terminated your lease.”
The officer scanned the documents,
his eyebrows rising.
“This looks solid,
ma’am.”
He turned to Ronald,
his grip tightening.
“Mr. Cobb,
you’re under arrest for attempted breaking and entering,
violating a protective order,
and trespassing.”
“Wait!”
Priscilla screamed,
lunging toward me.
“You can't do this!
We’re the Cobbs!
We have a name in this city!”
“You have a name,
Priscilla,”
I agreed,
“but you don't have the money to back it up.”
“I’ve been the one holding up that name while you spent your days belittling me for not being 'well-born' enough.”
I looked at Ronald,
who was staring at me as if I were a stranger.
“You thought I was just the girl who got lucky with a paycheck.”
“You never asked why 'Mr. Vance' never called the house.”
“You never asked why the bills were always paid from a blind trust.”
“You were so blinded by your own arrogance that you didn't see that I was the one who owned the very air you were breathing.”
The officers started to lead them away,
Ronald stumbling as if his legs had turned to lead.
Priscilla was still shouting about her charity auction,
about the necklace,
about the humiliation.
She didn't realize that the humiliation was only beginning.
May you like
By the time the sun fully hit the Atlantic horizon,
the news of the "Cobb Family Fall" would be the talk of every elite circle in Miami.
