Chapter 10 - The Last Stand on the Sidewalk
Brooke’s makeup was smudged, her hair unwashed, and her designer purse replaced by a cheap plastic grocery bag containing whatever clothes she had managed to salvage before the marshals cleared the estate.
I rolled the car window down halfway, resting my arm casually along the frame.
“What do you want, Brooke?” I asked, my voice completely devoid of emotion.
Brooke stared at me, her eyes red-rimmed and hollow, the smug superiority that had defined her entire life completely burned away by reality.
“Mom and Dad are in holding,” Brooke whispered, her voice trembling violently as she clutched the plastic bag against her chest. “Dad had a panic attack this morning. The lawyers won't even answer our calls. They said... they said everything is gone. The house, the cars, our accounts... everything.”
“I know,” I replied evenly.
“You own the estate now,” Brooke said, her voice dropping into a desperate, pathetic plea. “The attorneys told us the old grandfather codicil transferred the house to your name. Emma... please. We have nowhere to go. You can’t just throw us out on the street. We’re family.”
The word family hung in the dry air like a bitter joke.
“Family,” I repeated softly. “Is that what you call locking me out in the rain? Is that what you call giving away my VIP ticket, stealing my mother’s legacy, and trying to forge my signature to cover up your parents’ crimes?”
Brooke flinched as if I had struck her across the face.
“We were just protecting our lifestyle,” she sobbed, tears finally spilling down her cheeks. “You never cared about any of this! You had your military academy, your medals, your future! You didn't need the money!”
“It was never about the money, Brooke,” I said, looking her dead in the eye. “It was about respect. It was about decency. Two things neither you nor your parents ever bothered to learn.”
I reached down, turned the ignition key, and the engine rumbled to life beneath the hood.
“Emma—wait! What are we supposed to do?” Brooke cried out, taking a frantic step toward the car as I shifted into drive.
“Do what I did seventeen years ago,” I said, resting my hand on the steering wheel. “Figure it out.”
May you like
I stepped on the gas, leaving Brooke standing alone on the sidewalk, a ghost of a world that no longer existed, as my car accelerated down the highway toward my future.
Just as I cleared the city limits, my phone flashed with a final, incoming priority alert from base command: Secure transmission incoming from Supreme Allied Command...
