Chapter 2 - The Morning of Ruin
I woke up to my phone vibrating aggressively on the hotel nightstand.
It was 7:30 AM, and my screen was flooded with notifications.
There were fourteen missed calls from Mark and seven panicked text messages.
"Where are you? Why is my card declining?"
"Sarah, call me right now. I'm at the gas station and the cashier is threatening to call the cops because the card is frozen."
"Mom's card is dead too. What did you do?"
I smiled, a slow, deeply satisfying smile, and poured myself a hot cup of room-service coffee.
I typed out a single, calculated response.
"I told you last night that the free ride was over. Call your own bank."
I then blocked his number and blocked Brenda's number.
I knew exactly what was happening at my house.
Mark had likely tried to buy his expensive artisanal espresso on the way to his 'consulting' job—a job that produced zero income for the last three years.
Brenda was probably at the luxury spa, discovering that her weekly massage could no longer be charged to her daughter-in-law's account.
My phone chimed again, this time with an email from Diane.
"The emergency orders are filed, and the eviction notice for your pre-marital property is being served to them as we speak."
Yes, the beautiful four-bedroom house they were currently living in was in my name only, purchased two years before I even met Mark.
They had thirty days to vacate the premises, but knowing Mark's total lack of savings, he wouldn't even survive the week.
I looked at Leo, who was happily eating a massive stack of hotel pancakes while watching cartoons.
He was safe, he was warm, and he was loved.
May you like
That was all that mattered.
The parasites who had neglected him were finally getting exactly what they deserved.
