Chapter 5 - The Glass Partition
I slowly pressed the button on my armrest. The electric window slid downward with a faint, soft hum, creating a clear gap between the sun-baked driveway and the cool, conditioned air of my interior.
Samuel looked older than his years. The lines around his eyes were carved deep with regret, and his mouth twitched as he tried to find words that had deserted him.
"Paige..." he began, his voice cracking. "Please. Let's... let's talk about this inside. We can work something out. You can keep the master bedroom. You can have the whole upstairs! Gwendolyn didn't mean—we didn't understand—"
"You didn't read the papers when you signed them nine years ago, Samuel," I interrupted, my voice devoid of anger, carrying only an icy, clinical detachment that cut far deeper than any shout. "Or maybe you did, and you just assumed I would never look at them either."
"Paige, I'm your father," he pleaded, his hands resting on the edge of the car door frame, his knuckles white. "Family doesn't throw family out onto the street over a bedroom."
"You're right, Samuel," I replied, looking straight into his bloodshot eyes. "Family doesn't. But squatters who steal a dead woman's legacy to appease a narcissistic wife? They usually get thirty days to clear their boxes out."
Behind him, Gwendolyn let out a hysterical laugh that sounded half like a shriek. "You ungrateful little monster! You're throwing your own father out on the street for a piece of paper?!"
"No, Gwendolyn," I said, raising my voice just enough to carry across the yard. "I'm not throwing him out. I'm evicting you."
I turned my gaze back to Samuel.
"You have until tomorrow morning at eight o'clock to remove your personal belongings from the premises," I instructed calmly. "After that, the smart locks will be reset, and the security codes will be updated. If you need a place to stay, Chloe's basement room is apparently perfectly fine."
Samuel stared at me, the full, crushing weight of his choices finally settling onto his shoulders. He didn't argue anymore. He simply stepped back from the car, defeated.
I signaled to Marcus, who nodded and walked back toward the driver's side door, sliding behind the wheel and putting the car in gear.
As we backed out of the driveway, I glanced in the side mirror one last time.
Gwendolyn was screaming at Samuel, her hands flying wildly in the air, while Chloe sat on the porch steps with her face buried in her hands, her phone lying forgotten in the dirt. Samuel stood motionless between them, staring down at the empty gravel where my car had been parked.
Marcus navigated the corner, heading toward the private road back to Paradise Valley.
"Well," Marcus said, glancing sideways at me with a faint, appreciative smile. "That certainly beats sending a text message."
I didn't answer right away. I leaned my head back against the leather headrest, watching the desert landscape blur past the window, feeling the strange, profound lightness of a debt finally paid in full.
My phone buzzed in my lap.
It was an unknown local number, but the area code was from downtown Phoenix.
May you like
I swiped the screen and answered.
"Paige Hayes?" a sharp, clipped voice asked. "This is Detective Miller with the Phoenix Police Department financial crimes division. We received an expedited inquiry regarding your mother's estate records from eight years ago... and there's something regarding the original probate filing you need to see immediately."
