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Chapter 2 - The Morning Panic

I did not sleep a single wink that night.

At exactly five in the morning, a sleek black town car pulled into the alleyway behind the cottage.

Marcus’s personal security team loaded my small bag into the trunk.

I stepped into the luxurious leather interior, leaving the dusty guest house behind forever.

I instructed the driver to take me to the penthouse suite Arthur and I had secretly maintained downtown.

Miles away, the sun finally rose over Ethan and Vanessa’s lavish suburban neighborhood.

According to the security feeds Marcus had tapped into, their morning started like any other.

Vanessa drove her expensive sports car to her exclusive country club for a breakfast meeting.

She handed her platinum credit card to the waitress to pay for a round of expensive mimosas.

The machine violently declined the transaction.

Vanessa laughed nervously, assuming it was a simple banking error, and handed over a second premium card.

That one was declined as well.

Back at the house, Ethan was trying to transfer the illicit funds from the forged land sale.

His banking app displayed a terrifying, bright red zero across every single checking and savings account.

He frantically dialed his private wealth manager, screaming into the phone.

The manager informed him that a superior trust had enacted an emergency freeze on his entire financial portfolio.

Ethan dropped his phone, his face turning entirely pale.

He ran out the back door and sprinted across the lawn toward my guest cottage.

He kicked the wooden door open, fully intending to scream at me and demand answers.

Instead, he found the cottage completely empty, stripped of every personal belonging I owned.

Sitting perfectly in the center of the small wooden dining table was a crisp white envelope.

Ethan ripped it open with trembling hands.

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Inside was a legal eviction notice, completely revoking his right to live in the main house.

Beneath the document was a photograph of Ethan pushing me through the glass door, captured perfectly by a hidden security camera.

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