Chapter 4 - The Uninvited Guests
The heavy footsteps of the men echoed loudly on my wooden front porch.
I shoved Evan away from me and rushed my children toward the kitchen.
"Hide in the pantry and do not make a single sound," I ordered my twins in a fierce whisper.
Maddie and Mason nodded bravely and scrambled into the dark closet, pulling the door shut behind them.
The front doorbell rang exactly once, followed immediately by a deafening crash.
The men did not wait for an invitation, choosing instead to kick the solid oak door entirely off its hinges.
Four imposing figures stepped into my foyer, bringing the smell of cold rain and expensive cologne with them.
A tall man with silver hair and a tailored charcoal suit walked in last, clearly the leader of the group.
He casually stepped over the broken door and offered me a chilling, polite smile.
"Good morning, Sarah," the silver-haired man said, knowing my name perfectly well.
"My name is Victor, and your pathetic husband owes my organization a substantial amount of money."
Evan cowered behind the sofa, whimpering like a frightened child.
I stood my ground in the center of the living room, refusing to show Victor any fear.
"I have absolutely no legal connection to his debts, and you are trespassing," I stated firmly.
Victor laughed, a dry, hollow sound that lacked any genuine humor.
"Your mother-in-law, Marsha, informed us that you were a delightfully stubborn woman," Victor mused.
He pulled a thick, legal-looking folder from inside his tailored jacket and tossed it onto my coffee table.
"Marsha signed the commercial ground lease over to my organization this morning," Victor explained.
"We do not just own your husband's debt anymore, Sarah."
Victor took a slow, menacing step toward me.
"We now legally own the ground beneath your feet, which makes this our property."
He gestured to his massive bodyguards with a flick of his wrist.
"Tear the house apart and find the safe," Victor commanded his men.
"Wait, what safe?" Evan cried out in genuine confusion from behind the couch.
Victor looked at Evan with a mixture of pity and absolute contempt.
"You really are an idiot, Evan," Victor sneered coldly.
"Your mother did not sell us the lease to pay off your petty gambling debts."
May you like
Victor turned his piercing gaze back to me.
"She sold it to us because she finally figured out what your deceased first husband hid inside the walls of this house."
