Chapter 9 - The Eviction at Dawn-9
The morning sun rose over the Atlantic Ocean, painting the skies of Palm Beach in brilliant shades of pink, gold, and violet. The gentle ocean breeze rustled the palm fronds surrounding the waterfront mansion that Grant Holloway had once claimed as the ultimate symbol of his success.
At 6:00 a.m., three large commercial moving trucks and two county sheriff patrol cars pulled up to the wrought-iron gates of the estate.
Inside the mansion, Mavis and Brielle Holloway had not slept a single minute. They sat in the dark living room, surrounded by unpacked suitcases, frantically trying to call Grant’s high-priced defense lawyers—only to be repeatedly told that no attorney would take the case without a five-hundred-thousand-dollar cash retainer, which Grant no longer possessed.
The front door opened.
Sheriff’s deputies stepped into the foyer, accompanied by a team of professional movers holding clipboards.
"Mavis Holloway and Brielle Holloway?" the lead deputy announced, holding an official Writ of Possession. "This property is owned by Aegis Real Estate, a subsidiary of Bellamy Holdings. An emergency eviction order was executed by the Circuit Court at midnight. You have twenty minutes to vacate the premises."
"Twenty minutes?!" Brielle shrieked, running down the stairs in her wrinkled clothes from the night before. "All my clothes are in there! My designer bags! My jewelry!"
"Items purchased with corporate funds under audit are subject to federal lien and cannot be removed," the deputy stated flatly. "You may take one suitcase of personal clothing each. Everything else remains on the property."
Mavis collapsed onto the bottom step of the staircase, weeping hysterically as movers began tagging the Italian leather furniture and oil paintings with yellow repossession stickers.
Just then, a sleek black sedan pulled up to the front entrance.
The rear door opened, and Seraphina stepped out, dressed in a sharp, tailored white linen suit, her dark hair pulled back into a flawless ponytail. She walked into the foyer, her light footsteps echoing against the marble floorboards.
Mavis looked up, scrambling to her feet with a look of desperate hope. "Seraphina! You came! You're going to stop them, aren't you? You're going to let us stay!"
Seraphina stopped in the center of the room, looking at the women who had treated her like a servant in her own home for seven years.
"I came to collect my grandfather's watch," Seraphina said calmly.
She walked past Mavis, over to the marble island in the kitchen where Grant’s limited-edition watch—the one Seraphina had given him, which he claimed he bought himself—was sitting beside an empty glass. She picked it up, wiped a speck of dust from the sapphire crystal face, and placed it carefully into her purse.
"Seraphina, please!" Brielle sobbed, holding a single canvas bag of clothes. "Where are we supposed to go? We have no money! All our credit cards were declined at the gas station this morning!"
Seraphina looked at Brielle, then at Mavis.
"There is a modest two-bedroom apartment in West Palm Beach," Seraphina said smoothly. "The lease has been paid for three months. It comes with a ten-year-old sedan parked in the driveway."
Mavis blinked, horrified. "A... a cheap apartment? A ten-year-old car? You expect us to live like peasants?!"
Seraphina walked toward the front door, pausing at the threshold as the movers began carrying out the grand piano.
May you like
"I lived like that for seven years while funding your luxury lifestyle," Seraphina said, turning her head slightly to offer them one final, cold look. "Consider it my final gift to the Holloway family. After three months, the rent is up to you."
Without waiting for their response, Seraphina stepped out into the bright morning sun, leaving the past behind her forever.
