Chapter 4 - The Truth Behind the Mask
The following morning, the "stone estate" was a scene of clinical, efficient chaos. The movers weren't there to organize; they were there to seize.
Gavin sat on the front steps, his designer suit rumpled, his face gray and hollow. Meredith stood beside him, clutching her gold earrings as if she were trying to hold onto the last vestiges of her social standing.
"Who... who is Summit Development Alliance?" Meredith demanded, her voice shrill and cracked. "This is an outrage! My son is a successful businessman!"
Stella pulled her SUV to the curb. She didn't get out. She didn't need to. She just watched as the moving crews began loading the high-end furniture—furniture Gavin didn't own—back onto the trucks.
Gavin walked toward her car, his hands shaking. He looked at her, really looked at her, for the first time in eleven years. He didn't see the "leasing assistant." He saw the woman who had held the checkbook for the entire charade.
"Stella?" he croaked. "You... you did this? How? You work for a small firm. You're... you're my wife."
"I was your wife," Stella said, her voice cold and final. "And I owned the firm that paid for your life. You wanted a wife who made you feel big, Gavin. So I gave you exactly what you asked for. I made you feel like a giant, while I built the floor you were standing on."
"I'll sue you!" he shouted, a flicker of his old arrogance returning. "You can't do this!"
"You signed the note, Gavin," she replied, rolling the window up. "I’m just the landlord collecting the rent."
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She put the car in drive and pulled away, leaving them standing on the sidewalk of a home that never belonged to them, surrounded by a life that was nothing more than a lease, a lien, and a lie.
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