Chapter 3 - The Corporate Fallout
By the time my flight touched down back in New York, my phone battery was nearly dead from the sheer volume of notifications.
Eleanor, Mark’s overbearing mother, had left me fourteen increasingly hysterical voicemails.
I deleted every single one of them without listening to a second of audio.
Instead, I took a sleek black town car straight from JFK airport to my lawyer’s office.
I sat in his expensive, leather-bound Manhattan office, reviewing the thick stack of paperwork for the Brooklyn townhouse.
“You were incredibly smart to keep the property title entirely in your name, Sarah,” my lawyer, David, said, adjusting his glasses.
“He contributed less than ten percent to the initial down payment, and his name is nowhere on the mortgage.”
“Legally, you can force a fast buyout, or you can simply serve him with an eviction notice.”
“Evict him,” I said without a single moment of hesitation.
“Draft the papers today and give him the standard thirty days to pack his belongings and vacate my property.”
David smiled a tight, professional smile and immediately began drafting the legal notice.
When I finally walked into the corporate office on Monday morning, the atmosphere was incredibly electric.
People were whispering fiercely in the breakrooms.
Eyes darted toward me from over cubicle walls as I strode purposefully down the hallway.
I ignored all of them, keeping my chin high, and went straight to my corner office.
Barely ten minutes had passed when the Global Head of HR knocked softly on my door.
“Sarah, do you have a brief moment to speak confidentially?” she asked, stepping inside and closing the door behind her.
I nodded and gestured gracefully for her to take a seat across from my desk.
“We have thoroughly reviewed the audio file you submitted, as well as your formal written report,” she began, folding her hands tightly in her lap.
“Mark Evans is currently suspended without pay pending a full, comprehensive internal investigation.”
“Furthermore, Chloe Jenkins’ internship has been terminated effective immediately due to violations of our code of conduct.”
I kept my facial expression perfectly neutral, showing absolutely no triumph or joy.
“I understand, thank you for the update.”
“We also received a very direct phone call from Helen at the Chicago firm this morning,” HR continued, looking at me with newfound respect.
“She explicitly requested that you be the sole point of contact and lead director moving forward.”
“She absolutely refused to work with Mark under any circumstances.”
I felt a massive surge of professional triumph, but I kept it completely hidden behind my corporate mask.
“I appreciate the firm's swift handling of this distraction,” I said, organizing the files on my desk.
As HR stood up and left my office, my personal cell phone began to ring loudly.
It was Eleanor Evans again.
This time, I decided to answer it.
“You vicious, vindictive, heartless woman!” Eleanor screamed into the phone receiver the second I connected the call.
“You got my wonderful son suspended from his job!”
“You are trying to steal his beautiful house out from under him!”
I let her rant, scream, and hurl insults for a solid sixty seconds before I finally spoke.
“It is my house, Eleanor, paid for with my money.”
“And your son got himself suspended by blatantly breaking company policy and abandoning his professional duties.”
“If you contact me again, I will have my lawyer add a harassment restraining order to his eviction notice.”
I hung up the phone and immediately blocked her number.
The surgical removal of the Evans family from my life had officially begun.
May you like
I turned back to my computer, opened the Chicago merger files, and got back to work.
There was a fifty-million-dollar deal to close, and I was going to be the one to do it alone.
