Tori thought she could leave four children with me while she flew to Japan, but she forgot one important detail: I had a flight of my own that afternoon, and I wasn't canceling it this time. / Chapter 24 / 131

Chapter 24 - The Serpent in the Driveway

At six o’clock Sunday evening, my phone buzzed with a motion alert from the Ring doorbell camera installed at my home in Illinois.

I was sitting in a café overlooking the Miradouro de Santa Luzia, watching the sun dip into the Tagus River. Beside me, Linda was reading a novel, perfectly at ease. I tapped the notification on my phone screen, and the live video feed loaded in high definition.

A silver Mercedes SUV pulled into my private driveway, tires crunching aggressively over the gravel.

Tori stepped out.

She wasn't dressed like a frantic mother who had spent days looking for her four abandoned children. She was wearing oversized designer sunglasses, a camel-hair trench coat, and carrying a new designer handbag on her forearm. She strutted toward my front porch with the casual arrogance of an owner inspecting an estate she already considered her own.

Behind her, carrying two garment bags, was Brenda Vance.

"Look at this," I whispered to Linda, tilting the phone so she could see.

Brenda looked visibly anxious, her head darting left and right like a nervous rodent. "Tori, are you sure about this?" Brenda’s voice came through the crisp microphone of the Ring camera. "Caleb isn't answering. The title office called me on my personal cell this afternoon saying there's an inquiry flag on the bridge loan file."

"Stop panicking, Brenda," Tori snapped, adjusting her sunglasses. "Caleb is a coward. He’s hiding at his sister's house because he can't handle a real woman running a business. And the old bat is stuck in Europe. Once the notice is served tomorrow morning, Bridgepoint takes possession, we buy it back out of the LLC at the foreclosure auction for pennies on the dollar with the remaining capital, and Myrna gets stuck with whatever is left."

"Tori, that's not how judicial foreclosure works in Illinois," Brenda pleaded, sweating visibly. "It takes months, and if they prove the signature was bad—"

"Who’s going to prove it?" Tori scoffed, stepping onto my porch. "Myrna wouldn't dare put her own son's wife in prison. She cares too much about what the church ladies think. She’ll pay off the balance to save family face, just like she always does."

I pressed the microphone button on my screen.

The voice that emerged from the doorbell speaker was smooth, crystal-clear, and ice-cold.

"Good evening, Tori. Hello, Brenda."

Both women froze instantly. Brenda gasped, dropping one of the garment bags onto the welcome mat. Tori spun around, staring directly into the lens of the camera.

"Myrna?" Tori stammered, recovering her composure within a fraction of a second. She stepped closer to the camera, sneering. "Oh, good. You have a camera. How nice of you to check in from your little vacation while your grandchildren are completely unaccounted for."

"My grandchildren are safe with Patrice," I said, my voice steady through the nine-hour time difference. "Where you will never be allowed near them again."

Tori let out a shrill, mocking laugh. "Is that a threat? You abandoned them on your porch! I have the text messages to prove it!"

"No, Tori," I said calmly. "What you have is a Class 1 felony indictment for identity theft, two counts of bank fraud, and one count of forgery against an elderly dependent. And Brenda... I'd suggest you run home and call the best criminal defense attorney in Cook County. Detective Kowalski already has your notary log."

Brenda turned as white as paper. "Tori, she knows," Brenda cried, clutching her chest. "I told you! I told you she would check the registry!"

"Shut up, Brenda!" Tori shrieked. Then she leaned directly into the camera lens, her eyes bulging with manic rage. "You listen to me, you dried-up old witch! That house is collateral for my company! You owe Caleb and me that equity! You sat on Arthur’s pension for ten years while we struggled to build an empire! You think you can destroy me? I will burn this entire family to the ground before you take a dime from me!"