Nobody laughed anymore.
Rebecca closed the laptop after the footage finished.
Evelyn sat silently.
Tessa would not look at me.
Michael stood across the table, furious.
“You’re destroying this family.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
“I’m removing people who confused access with ownership.”
He stepped closer.
“This is my home too.”
I looked around the dining room.
“No, Michael.”
“It was the home I allowed you to share.”
Corporate Security moved nearer.
Rebecca handed him a formal notice.
He had twenty-four hours to collect personal belongings.
His access credentials to the company were revoked.
Every transfer involving his family was under review.
Evelyn looked at me.
“You would throw your own family out?”
I met her eyes.
“You spent six months replacing my staff, taking over my rooms, and treating my father’s company like an inheritance you had already received.”
Then I looked at Michael.
“And when I refused to sign it over, you thought fear would change my mind.”
He said nothing.
I lifted my wineglass again.
The same one I had raised at the beginning of dinner.
“To valuable lessons.”
This time nobody smiled.
The next morning, the west wing was empty.
Evelyn was gone.
Tessa was gone.
Michael was gone.
The mansion became quiet again.
I stood alone at the top of the staircase, my arm still in its cast.
For the first time in months, the house felt like mine again.
Because it was.
It always had been.
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