Chapter 7 - The Eviction
On Thursday morning, a heavy autumn rain swept across the suburban neighborhood where Sonia’s luxurious four-bedroom estate stood.
A yellow moving truck was parked in the driveway, surrounded by three county sheriff deputies and a legal representative from First National Bank.
Sonia stood on the front lawn in her bare feet, wrapped in an oversized trench coat, holding a sobbing Mason while Brenda screamed hysterically at the moving crew who were hauling luxury furniture out through the front door.
"You can't do this!" Brenda shrieked, clutching a velvet cushion to her chest. "This house belongs to my son! He paid two hundred thousand dollars for it!"
"The two hundred thousand dollars was identified as stolen corporate property, ma'am," Sheriff Officer Davis announced, holding a court-ordered eviction notice. "The purchase contract has been rescinded by the lender. The property is being repossessed by the Hayes Capital Trust under a corporate recovery lien."
"Where are we supposed to go?" Sonia cried out, her voice raw with terror. "I’m pregnant! I have a child! You're throwing us onto the street in the rain!"
"You have two hours to remove your personal clothing and vacate the premises," Officer Davis replied, completely untouched by her tears. "Any items purchased using Vance Logistics accounts will remain on the property."
A black sedan pulled up to the curb.
The back window rolled down slowly.
I looked out at the scene—at the rain falling on Brenda’s ruined hair, at Sonia clutching her plastic bags of clothes, at the boy who had thrown a greasy napkin at my daughter six days ago now huddled in the wet grass, crying for his mother.
Sonia saw me in the car. She dropped her bags and ran to the curb, falling to her knees beside the passenger door.
"Hannah! Please!" Sonia begged, slamming her hands against the door. "I’m sorry! I was wrong! Brandon lied to me! He told me you didn't care about him! He told me you were going to divorce him anyway!"
I rolled down the window just two inches.
"You sat in my car while my husband kicked me into a puddle, Sonia," I said softly, my voice carrying over the sound of the falling rain. "You smiled at me while my daughter shivered in the cold."
"I was desperate!" Sonia wept. "I didn't have anyone else!"
"You had a choice to be a human being," I replied coldly. "You chose to build a life on the destruction of mine. Now you get to live in the foundation you built."
I rolled the window back up.
May you like
"Drive," I instructed the driver quietly.
The sedan pulled away from the curb, leaving Sonia kneeling in the muddy water, screaming into the storm as the workers cleared the rest of her stolen life out of the house.
