Chapter 5 - The Ashes of Deception
The weekend after the federal court hearing was the first quiet weekend I had experienced in over a decade.
There were no hurried breakfasts cooked while managing three client deadlines at once, no late-night editing sessions while Luca muttered complaints about my typing noise from the couch, and no lingering anxiety about whether our credit cards would clear at the grocery store checkout.
On Saturday morning, Fiona and I baked chocolate chip pancakes in the sunlit kitchen while Leo chased our new golden retriever puppy—a rescue named Sterling that Rachel’s office had gifted the kids—around the backyard.
"Mommy," Fiona said, flipping a pancake with a plastic spatula while standing on a step stool. "Are we ever going to see Daddy again?"
I paused, wiping flour from my hands, and knelt down so I was eye-level with my daughter. "Daddy has to figure out some very complicated things, sweetie. But you are safe, this house is ours, and nothing bad is ever going to happen to us again. Do you understand?"
She nodded solemnly, wrapping her flour-dusted arms around my neck. "As long as we don't have to pack our bags."
"Never again," I promised.
Later that afternoon, my phone rang. It wasn't Luca, and it wasn't Rachel. It was an unfamiliar Manhattan number.
"Mrs. Jessica Vance?" a smooth, professional voice asked.
"Speaking."
"This is Marcus Thorne, senior partner at Thorne & associates, liquidators for commercial assets in Tribeca. I'm calling regarding the secondary property associated with the late Margaret Sterling—the Tribeca penthouse currently leased under the corporate name of Vance Consulting."
I leaned against the kitchen counter, watching Leo throw a tennis ball across the lawn. "Go on."
"Well, Mrs. Vance, when our repossession team entered the premises this morning to inventory the corporate assets left behind by Mr. Vance, we found someone inside. Acknowledging that the lease was terminated, she refused to leave until law enforcement was called."
A cold intuition prickled at the back of my neck. "Who was it?"
"Chloe Ruiz. She claims she was living there under a verbal residency agreement with Mr. Vance, and she's threatening legal action against everyone from the building management to your estate."
I couldn't help the dry, humorless chuckle that escaped my lips. Of course. When Luca’s empire crumbled, Chloe hadn't stuck around to offer comfort or loyalty; she had tried to squat in a luxury penthouse that was never his to give in the first place. Birds of a feather.
"Mr. Thorne, have the building security escort her off the premises immediately," I instructed calmly. "If she removes anything that belongs to the estate or the corporation, file charges for grand larceny. Let her see what kind of man she traded her career for."
"Consider it done, Mrs. Vance," Thorne replied smoothly.
May you like
After hanging up, I walked out onto the back porch, breathing in the crisp autumn air. The sun was beginning to dip below the tree line on Maplewood Lane, painting the sky in shades of amber and violet.
For eleven years, I had believed that my worth was defined by how much I could sacrifice for a man who viewed me as disposable. Now, standing on my own porch, looking out at my children playing safely in the grass, I realized the truth. Margaret hadn't just left me an empire of towers and millions. She had left me back to myself.
