Chapter 4 - The Eviction
While Julian was being tossed onto the sidewalk outside my office, my mother was delivering her own brand of justice.
She arrived at the Sterling flagship hotel in downtown Manhattan at noon, flanked by two corporate attorneys and a team of process servers. The hotel manager, a snobby man who had once refused to seat my mother at their restaurant, tried to block her path.
"Maria," Charles Sterling said, rushing down the grand marble staircase, sweating through his custom suit. "Maria, please, let’s be reasonable. We can negotiate the land lease. I can offer you equity in the hotel."
My mother stood in the center of the lobby, wearing a simple, elegant trench coat, looking completely unbothered.
"You don't have any equity to offer, Charles," she said smoothly. "Your assets are frozen. You are in breach of contract for failure to pay the last three months of property taxes—which is a direct violation of our lease agreement."
Victoria emerged from the hotel restaurant, her face pale, her diamonds looking suddenly heavy. "You can't do this to us! We are the Sterlings! We built this city!"
"You built a facade, Victoria," my mother corrected her. "And now, it’s being condemned. My attorneys are serving you with a thirty-day notice to vacate the premises. The building and the land revert to the Navarro Trust."
Charles looked like he was going to pass out. "Maria, please. We'll be ruined. We have nowhere else to go. All of our capital is tied up in this property."
May you like
"Then I suggest you learn how to sew," my mother said coldly. "I hear it’s a very practical skill for a woman from the trailer park to have."
She turned on her heel and walked out, leaving the Sterlings to hyperventilate in their own lobby.
