Nobody laughed anymore.<\/p>\n
Rebecca closed the laptop after the footage finished.<\/p>\n
Evelyn sat silently.<\/p>\n
Tessa would not look at me.<\/p>\n
Michael stood across the table, furious.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re destroying this family.\u201d<\/p>\n
I shook my head.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m removing people who confused access with ownership.\u201d<\/p>\n
He stepped closer.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is my home too.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked around the dining room.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, Michael.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was the home I allowed you to share.\u201d<\/p>\n
Corporate Security moved nearer.<\/p>\n
Rebecca handed him a formal notice.<\/p>\n
He had twenty-four hours to collect personal belongings.<\/p>\n
His access credentials to the company were revoked.<\/p>\n
Every transfer involving his family was under review.<\/p>\n
Evelyn looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou would throw your own family out?\u201d<\/p>\n
I met her eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou spent six months replacing my staff, taking over my rooms, and treating my father\u2019s company like an inheritance you had already received.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then I looked at Michael.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd when I refused to sign it over, you thought fear would change my mind.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said nothing.<\/p>\n
I lifted my wineglass again.<\/p>\n
The same one I had raised at the beginning of dinner.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo valuable lessons.\u201d<\/p>\n
This time nobody smiled.<\/p>\n
The next morning, the west wing was empty.<\/p>\n
Evelyn was gone.<\/p>\n
Tessa was gone.<\/p>\n
Michael was gone.<\/p>\n
The mansion became quiet again.<\/p>\n
I stood alone at the top of the staircase, my arm still in its cast.<\/p>\n
For the first time in months, the house felt like mine again.<\/p>\n
Because it was.<\/p>\n
It always had been.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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. \u201cYou\u2019re destroying this family.\u201d I shook my head. \u201cNo.\u201d \u201cI\u2019m removing people who confused access with ownership.\u201d He stepped closer. \u201cThis is my home too.\u201d I looked around the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","class_list":["post-568","sr_chapter","type-sr_chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/fantatv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/sr_chapter\/568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/fantatv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/sr_chapter"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/fantatv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/sr_chapter"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fantatv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/fantatv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/sr_chapter\/568\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/fantatv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}