Chapter 4 - The Homecoming
At exactly 5:45 PM, my phone buzzed with a motion-detection alert from the hidden kitchen camera.
I was comfortably lounging in the private, first-class airport lounge, sipping a perfectly mixed martini.
I opened the app, expanding the live video feed just in time to watch Nathan stride confidently through the front door.
He didn't immediately notice the profound, echoing emptiness of the house because he was too busy yelling into his cell phone.
"I told you, the quarterly projections are entirely wrong!" Nathan barked into the phone, loosening his cheap silk tie.
He walked down the short hallway and finally stepped into the expansive, completely barren living room.
He stopped dead in his tracks, dropping his expensive leather briefcase directly onto the bare hardwood floor.
His mouth fell open in absolute, comical shock as he slowly spun around, taking in the vast, empty space.
"I... I have to call you back," Nathan whispered into the phone, his voice trembling with sudden, intense confusion.
He disconnected the call and sprinted frantically into the kitchen, finding the exact same terrifying emptiness.
The massive double-door refrigerator was gone, the expensive espresso machine had vanished, and even the heavy bar stools were missing.
"Mom!" Nathan screamed at the top of his lungs, his voice echoing loudly and pathetically off the bare walls.
"Mom, where the hell is everything?!"
He honestly, foolishly believed that I was still somewhere in the house, perhaps hiding in a closet after being robbed blind.
He ran wildly toward the kitchen island, completely panicked, and that was when his eyes finally landed on my single piece of stationery.
I watched through the high-definition camera feed as he reached out with shaking hands and picked up the note.
His eyes rapidly scanned my elegant handwriting, and I could physically see the exact moment his arrogant soul left his body.
His face drained of all color, turning a sickly, pale shade of grayish-white as the devastating reality crashed down upon him.
He read the note a second time, his lips moving silently, completely unable to process the absolute magnitude of his catastrophic failure.
"No, no, no, she can't legally do this!" Nathan gasped out loud, crushing the heavy paper in his trembling fist.
He frantically pulled out his phone and dialed my number, clearly expecting me to answer and tell him it was all a sick joke.
May you like
I watched him press the phone to his ear, waiting for the familiar ringtone.
In the airport lounge, I smiled warmly as I remembered I had permanently blocked his number and canceled his portion of the family phone plan.
