Chapter 58 - The Confession at Dawn
"Evelyn," Marcus said softly, walking over to my side. He laid a gentle hand on my shoulder. "Take a breath. The immediate threat is neutralized. Let's handle the domestic clean-up inside."
"No," I said, shaking my head. "The domestic clean-up happens right here, in the daylight, where everybody can see it."
I looked down at Liam, who was trembling, his face buried in his hands.
"You want to be a man, Liam?" I asked. "You want to be a father to that child inside Chloe's belly? Then you stand up on your own two feet. You don't beg your mother to pay your bills while you disrespect her under her own roof. You don't let your wife dictate terms to the person who gave you life."
Liam slowly raised his head, his eyes swollen and bloodshot. "What are you going to do to us?"
"I am not going to do anything to you," I said. "I am going to do what I should have done five years ago. I am cutting the cord."
I reached into my handbag, pulled out a folded legal document, and tossed it onto the grass in front of him. It fluttered down, landing against his knee.
"What is this?" Liam whispered.
"A formal, court-certified lease agreement," I said. "The Sovereign Hearth is registered under a private family trust. I am the sole trustee. If you and Chloe want to live in this house, you will pay fair market rent: twenty-eight hundred dollars a month. You will pay your own utilities, your own groceries, your own insurance, and your own car payments. If the rent is one day late, you will receive an eviction notice served by the county sheriff."
Chloe gasped. "Twenty-eight hundred dollars? Liam’s salary at the marketing firm barely covers—"
"Then Liam can get a second job," I cut her off sharply. "Or you can get a job after the baby is born. You wanted an adult life, Chloe? Welcome to it. The nursery stays where it is. You can have the master bedroom. But this house does not belong to you. It will never belong to you until I am in the ground, and even then, it will be held in trust for my granddaughter, not for either of you."
Liam stared at the paper. His hands shook as he picked it up. He looked at the signature line, then looked up at me.
"And you?" Liam asked, his voice hollow. "Where are you going to live?"
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"I bought a two-bedroom cottage in Rockport yesterday afternoon," I said, a faint, genuine smile touching my lips for the first time in weeks. "It overlooks the ocean. It has a wrap-around porch, a garden that actually gets sunlight, and not a single server rack or hydraulic vault beneath the floorboards."
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