Chapter 5 - The Vance Family Crumbles
The pressure cooker was whistling, and Eleanor Vance was the first to crack.
She showed up at my condo on a rainy Thursday morning, wearing a trench coat and dark sunglasses, looking like a disgraced celebrity. Gone was the patronizing sneer.
"Margaret," she pleaded, sitting stiffly on my couch. "We need to come to an arrangement. Julian's post on social media... the rumors... it's ruining our family's reputation at the country club. People are saying he stole from you."
"They're saying that because it's true, Eleanor."
She reached into her designer handbag and pulled out a checkbook. "How much? How much to drop the eviction, drop the fraud allegations, and sign the house over to them? I will pay you for the house right now. Just make this scandal go away."
I looked at the trembling pen in her hand. I remembered how she had looked at me on the porch, like I was dirt on her shoe.
"You don't have the money, Eleanor," I said softly.
She froze.
"David did some digging," I continued. "Your husband’s business is failing. You’re mortgaged to the hilt. You wanted Julian to marry Chloe because you thought we had money. You thought he was inheriting a massive estate. You're just as broke as they are."
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Eleanor’s jaw trembled. She slowly put the checkbook away, her wealthy facade shattering into a million pieces. "If you do this," she whispered venomously, "Julian will leave her. He won't stay with a penniless girl with a vindictive mother."
"Good," I said, standing up to open the door. "Then the trash will take itself out."
