Chapter 3 - Midnight Evictions and Cold Realities
The Greenwich estate was a sprawling monument to vanity,
a twenty-room mansion that Everett had insisted on buying because it looked like something out of a movie.
At 1:00 AM,
the gates did not open for the familiar black SUV that Everett had hitched a ride in.
Instead,
he was greeted by two men in dark uniforms standing behind the iron bars.
"Open the gate!"
Everett yelled,
leaning out of the window of the taxi he had been forced to call.
"I’m the owner of this property!"
The guard didn't move.
"Sir,"
the guard said,
his voice flat.
"This property is owned by the Hart Legacy Trust."
"As of midnight,"
"you are no longer a beneficiary or a trustee."
"You have no right of entry."
Everett climbed out of the taxi,
his face pale in the flickering light of the streetlamps.
"This is my house!"
"My mother is inside!"
"My clothes are inside!"
At that moment,
the front doors of the mansion swung open.
Patricia was escorted out by two female security officers.
She was still in her gala gown,
but she was clutching a small jewelry box as if it were a life raft.
"Everett!"
she shrieked,
her voice carrying over the manicured lawn.
"They’re making me leave!"
"They told me I can only take what I can carry!"
"They took my fur coats!"
"They said they were purchased with company funds!"
Behind her,
Madison followed,
looking significantly less glamorous than she had an hour ago.
Her hair was a mess,
and she was carrying her designer heels in one hand while walking barefoot on the gravel.
"Everett,
do something!"
Madison cried,
her voice cracking.
"They told me the lease on my apartment is being terminated tomorrow morning!"
Everett looked at the two women,
then back at the guards,
his world collapsing in real-time.
"I’ll sue,"
he hissed,
though there was no conviction in his words.
"I’ll hire the best lawyers in the country and I’ll take everything from her."
One of the guards handed a manila envelope through the bars.
"Ms. Hart anticipated that,"
the guard said.
"Inside are the non-disclosure agreements you signed over the last ten years."
"Also,"
"there is a copy of the pre-nuptial agreement."
"The one you insisted on,"
"Everett."
Everett snatched the envelope and ripped it open,
his hands shaking so violently he nearly dropped the papers.
He flipped through the pages until he reached the final section.
He had been the one to draft the "Infidelity Clause."
He had wanted to make sure that if Evelyn ever cheated on him,
she would leave with nothing.
But the clause worked both ways.
Because he had been caught in a public display of adultery with Madison,
the clause had triggered.
He had waived his right to any spousal support.
He had waived his right to any shared assets.
And because the company was technically hers before the marriage even began,
he had no claim to a single share of Blackstone.
He fell to his knees on the pavement,
the cold dampness of the night soaking into his trousers.
"She set me up,"
he whispered,
the realization finally hitting him.
"She didn't set you up,
Everett,"
Patricia snapped,
turning her anger on her own son now that he was no longer a source of income.
"You set yourself up!"
"You had to have that girl!"
"You had to humiliate Evelyn in public!"
"If you had just kept your mouth shut and stayed in your bed,"
"we would still be in that house!"
Madison stepped back,
looking at Patricia with disgust.
"Don't blame me!"
"He told me she was a nobody!"
"He told me she was a charity case his father took in!"
The taxi driver,
realizing that his passengers were no longer the wealthy elites they appeared to be,
cleared his throat.
"Hey,"
the driver called out.
"The meter is still running."
"Who's paying for this?"
Everett reached into his pocket for his wallet,
but then he remembered.
His cards were in his tuxedo jacket.
The jacket he had thrown on the floor of the ballroom in a fit of rage.
He looked up at the mansion,
the lights starting to turn off one by one as the security team locked down the rooms.
The house was dark.
The accounts were frozen.
May you like
The empire was gone.
And the woman they had all laughed at was the only one with a key.
