My Husband Wanted My Fortune and Custody of Our Kids After a 14-Month Affair With My Sister, and My Parents Demanded I Sacrifice Everything to Protect Her Reputation—They Thought I’d Surrendered, but I Had One Move Left That Could Destroy Their Perfect Family Facade. / Chapter 4 / 40

Chapter 4 - The Eviction of the Vances

Two hours later, the courthouse storm had cleared, leaving only ruin in its wake.

I stood outside on the marble steps, breathing in the brisk, autumn Chicago air. For the first time in fourteen months, my lungs didn't feel constricted by invisible iron bands. The sky was an immaculate, piercing blue.

"You were magnificent, darling," Victoria said, stepping up beside me and slipping on her oversized sunglasses. "Julian’s lawyer is currently in the lower rotunda hyperventilating into a brown paper bag. The U.S. Attorney’s office just confirmed they’re executing search warrants on his personal safe at the bank."

"And the children?" I asked softly, my only true vulnerability.

"Safe at your private estate in Barrington," Victoria assured me. "My security team has the perimeter locked down. Julian doesn't even know that property exists. He thinks you're staying at the Elm Crest house."

Before I could answer, the heavy glass doors burst open behind us.

"EVE!"

It was Rosalind. Her ivory cashmere sweater was disheveled, mascara streaming down her blotched cheeks in ugly black tracks. Behind her, my mother trotted frantically, trying to hold up her weeping daughter.

"Eve, stop! You have to fix this!" Rosalind wailed, running down the steps toward me. "They took the keys to the Aston! The marshals locked me out of the building! All my clothes are in that apartment! My Birkin bags, my jewelry—everything!"

I looked at her, utterly detached. I searched within myself for a shred of pity, a flicker of the protective older sister who used to take the blame whenever Rosalind broke one of Mother’s antique vases.

I found nothing. Just a vast, frozen wasteland.

"Those bags were bought with stolen corporate funds, Rosalind," I said calmly. "They're federal evidence now. If you're lucky, the government will auction them off to pay back the city pension funds Julian defrauded."

"You monstrous bitch!" Rosalind screamed, her mask of delicate helplessness completely slipping. "He loved me! Do you hear me?! He never loved you! He stayed with you because you were an efficient little pack mule who signed the checks! In bed, he whispered my name! He hated touching your cold, boring skin!"

Helen caught up to her, breathless, and turned on me with wild eyes. "Eve! Look at what you've done to your sister! She's having an emotional breakdown! Call your lawyer and tell her to withdraw those papers! Tell the judge it was all a misunderstanding! Arthur is in the car having heart palpitations!"

"If Arthur is having heart palpitations, Mother, call 911," I replied coldly. "Don't call me."

"How can you be so heartless?!" Helen shrieked, drawing stares from passing attorneys and clerks. "We are your family! Blood is thicker than water!"

"Blood didn't stop my husband from sleeping in my sister's bed," I replied, stepping down one stair, towering over them both. "Blood didn't stop you from standing in that hallway twenty minutes ago, telling me to sacrifice my children and my livelihood so Rosalind wouldn't face embarrassment. You made your choice. You chose the thief and the parasite."