Chapter 4 - Desperate Begging
Within an hour of the process server's departure, my phone began blowing up incessantly.
First came twenty calls from my father. Then thirty texts from Gwendolyn, alternating wildly between furious threats and hysterical apologies.
“Paige, please pick up!” Gwendolyn texted. “Your father is having a panic attack! This is all a huge misunderstanding! We were just trying to give Chloe space for her business! We love you! You’re family!”
Family. The word tasted like copper in my mouth. She hadn't cared about "family" when she forced me to pack my suitcases in twenty-five minutes.
At 1:00 PM, a black sedan pulled up to the security gates of my Paradise Valley property. Through the intercom camera, I saw my father standing at the iron bars, looking withered, aged, and utterly broken.
I pressed the intercom button from my kitchen. "You shouldn't be here, Samuel."
He flinched at me calling him by his first name instead of 'Dad.'
"Paige... please," he begged, his voice cracking through the speaker. "Let me in. We need to talk. Gwendolyn didn't know about the trust! I forgot the exact wording of Eleanor's agreement! I never thought you would actually evict us!"
"You didn't forget," I said coldly. "You just thought I was too weak to fight back. You chose peace with a bully over protecting your own daughter."
"I made a mistake, Paige! A terrible mistake!" tears streamed down his sunken cheeks. "Gwendolyn is threatening to divorce me! She says if we lose the house, she's taking half my savings and leaving! Chloe's sponsors are dropping her because of the legal rumors! You're destroying our lives!"
"You destroyed your own life the second you let her throw my mother's legacy in the trash," I replied smoothly. "You have twenty-seven days left to pack your things. I suggest you hire movers instead of begging at my gate."
"Where am I supposed to go?!" he cried out, clutching the steel bars. "I spent all my cash flow investing in Gwendolyn's failed boutique business! I can't afford a new home in Phoenix!"
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"The basement room in a cheap rental seems available," I said, repeating the exact words Chloe had used against me. "I hear it's perfectly fine."
I shut off the intercom, leaving him sobbing at the iron gates.
