Chapter 3 - The Ghost Town
I looked up from the forged documents and smiled sweetly at my greedy sister.
I told Vanessa that the paperwork looked great, but it needed to be officially notarized at a bank.
I promised her that I would take the documents with me to work and sign them in front of a legal witness.
Vanessa looked incredibly smug, completely believing that she had just outsmarted a corporate lawyer.
She turned around and proudly announced to our mother that the house was finally theirs.
I packed the fake documents into my briefcase and walked out of my front door for the very last time.
I drove straight to my law firm and shredded Vanessa's pathetic paperwork into a million tiny pieces.
At exactly two o'clock in the afternoon, I logged onto the secure portal and electronically signed the final closing documents with Victor.
The massive cash payment hit my private offshore account less than sixty seconds later.
I was officially a multi-millionaire, and I no longer owned the lakefront house.
I left work early and drove straight to a luxury high-rise building in the city.
I had already signed a two-year lease on a gorgeous penthouse apartment with panoramic skyline views.
I poured myself a glass of expensive champagne and watched the city lights flicker to life.
I turned my cell phone entirely off and enjoyed three full days of absolute, uninterrupted peace.
I knew my family was probably celebrating in the lake house, completely unaware that they were trespassing on a ruthless criminal's property.
On the morning of the fourth day, I finally turned my phone back on.
My screen instantly flooded with ninety-seven missed calls and hundreds of frantic text messages.
Most of them were from my mother, screaming that I needed to answer the phone immediately.
I ignored the texts and calmly sipped my hot espresso on my new balcony.
Suddenly, my phone began to ring loudly in my hand.
The caller ID displayed my father's cell phone number.
I pressed the green button and raised the phone to my ear.
Instead of my father's arrogant voice, I heard a blood-curdling, agonizing scream that chilled me to the bone.
The scream abruptly cut off, replaced by the sound of a heavy body hitting a hardwood floor.
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Then, Victor's deep, menacing voice echoed through the speaker.
Victor politely thanked me for delivering the rat directly into his trap.
