Chapter 4 - The Sub-Zero Living Room
Back at the luxury estate, the temperature inside the grand foyer had plunged to a bone-chilling thirty-two degrees Fahrenheit within forty-five minutes.
Frost began creeping across the floor-to-ceiling glass windows of the grand living room. Brooke’s nine-year-old twins were huddled together on the velvet sofa, wrapped in three heavy mink coats, crying uncontrollably as their hands turned a faint shade of purple. The Pomeranian whined incessantly from its stroller, shivering despite its pink sweater.
"Where is he?!" Brooke shrieked, frantically pacing across the marble floor in her high heels, her breath forming thick white clouds in the freezing air. "It’s below freezing in here! The main pipes are going to burst!"
Mom held her smartphone with numb, trembling fingers, dialing Rupert’s cell phone over and over again, only to be sent straight to voicemail every single time.
"He's not answering, Brooke!" Mom cried out, her voice cracking with pure panic. "The digital master thermostat on the wall is completely frozen! It says 'System Override Locked'!"
"Call another company!" Brooke ordered, her arrogant posture completely shattering as she wrapped a fur coat tightly around her shoulders. "I don't care what it costs! Offer them five thousand dollars for an emergency visit!"
Mom quickly opened her browser, searching for the top emergency HVAC service in the state—Vance Thermal Dynamics Emergency Response.
She dialed the toll-free hotline on speakerphone, her heart pounding against her ribs as the line connected.
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"Vance Thermal Emergency Dispatch, this is Sarah. How can I direct your call?" the dispatcher's crisp, professional voice echoed through the freezing room.
👉 Click to continue reading as Brooke attempts to order the dispatchers around.
