Chapter 2 - The Midnight Eviction
The silence in the dining room lasted for three agonizing seconds before absolute bedlam broke out among the Mercer family.
"Evan!" his uncle, Richard, roared, slamming his wine glass onto the table so hard the stem snapped. "What is the meaning of this?! You invited us here to celebrate your new promotion and your home purchase! You told the entire family you were bankrolling your wife’s lifestyle!"
"I... I did!" Evan stammered, raising his hands in panic, looking around at his furious relatives. "I mean, I contributed! We’re married! Marital property means half of it is mine anyway!"
"Not in the State of Pennsylvania when the asset is registered under a pre-marital holding company with an executed Non-Marital Asset Waiver, Evan," I corrected him flatly, pulling my phone from my pocket and tapping a speed-dial icon.
I placed the phone on speaker.
"Philadelphia County Sheriff's Department, Dispatch 402, what is your emergency?" a crisp, professional voice echoed through the room.
"Good evening," I spoke into the phone. "My name is Claire Mercer. I am the sole property owner of 1420 Crestview Way. I have six individuals on my private property who have been formally ordered to leave following a domestic disturbance and intentional destruction of property. I have live cloud video footage of the incident."
"Are any of the individuals refusing to leave, ma'am?"
"Yes," I looked directly at Diane and Evan. "All of them."
"Units are dispatched to your location, ma'am. Estimated arrival is four minutes. Please stay in a safe area."
I ended the call and placed the phone back in my pocket.
Diane looked like she had been slapped by an invisible giant. Her face went from pale white to a deep, dark purple. She pointed a trembling finger at my face, her voice rising to an unhinged scream.
"You ungrateful little bitch!" Diane shrieked, charging toward me with her manicured nails raised. "How dare you drag the police into our family matters! You tricked my son! You tricked all of us!"
Before she could reach me, Evan grabbed his mother’s shoulders, pulling her back. Not out of protection for me, but out of absolute, panic-stricken fear of the flashing red and blue lights that suddenly illuminated the tall front windows of the foyer.
Two police cruisers had pulled up the long driveway, their headlights cutting through the darkness of the front yard.
"Mom, stop! Stop!" Evan hissed frantically, his voice cracking with embarrassment. "The neighbors are watching! If the police arrest you tonight, it’ll be in the morning papers!"
"Let them arrest her!" Brooke cried out, grabbing her designer handbag from the sofa. "I'm not getting caught up in this! Evan, you said you were a millionaire! You let Mom brag to the entire country club that you bought this mansion!"
"Quiet, Brooke!" Evan yelled, his refined, suave persona completely crumbling into pathetic desperation.
The heavy front door chimed as two uniformed officers stepped into the foyer. The lead officer, a tall sergeant with a no-nonsense expression, looked over the scene: the wet floor, the burning papers in the hearth, the dripping wet mother-in-law, and the terrified relatives clutching their coats.
"Is Claire Mercer here?" the sergeant asked, scanning the room.
"I am, Officer," I said, stepping forward. "These people were asked to leave my private residence fifteen minutes ago. They refused, and Mrs. Diane Mercer threw legal documents into my fireplace after assaulting me."
"That is a lie!" Diane yelled, hiding behind her son. "I slipped! The water was on the floor! She threw water in my face!"
The sergeant pulled a small tablet from his belt. "Ma'am, your home security feed was automatically relayed to our dispatch desk when the emergency call was placed. We watched the raw video in the cruiser on the way here. We saw you demand the home owner wash your feet, we saw the water, and we saw you hurl a document folder into the fireplace."
The six Mercer relatives gasped. Uncle Richard grabbed his coat and bolted out the front door without saying another word, followed closely by his wife and cousins.
The sergeant turned to Evan, Diane, and Brooke. "You three have two choices. You can pack your personal hand luggage and step off this property within five minutes, or you can spend the night in the county lockup for criminal trespass and destruction of evidence."
Evan looked at the police officers, then at the burning embers in the fireplace, and finally at me. For the first time in three years, I saw real, unadulterated fear in his eyes.
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"Claire..." Evan whispered, stepping toward me with his hands held out in a desperate plea. "Please... don't do this. We can talk about this in private. I’m your husband!"
"You were my husband, Evan," I said, my voice completely devoid of emotion. "Now, you have four minutes to get out of my house."
