Chapter 1 - THE DRIVEWAY
The first thing Paige saw was her father clutching his chest.
Robert Bennett sat in a wheelchair at the edge of the driveway, surrounded by cardboard boxes, open suitcases, and the kind of personal belongings families usually hide from strangers.
Winter coats.
Photo albums.
A framed wedding portrait.
A plastic bag filled with medication.
Across the street, neighbors watched through half-open blinds.
Margaret Bennett stood beside Robert in a gray knitted cardigan, her hair uncombed, her face twisted with panic.
“Paige!” she screamed. “The bank’s taking our house!”
Paige stepped out of her sedan carrying a leather briefcase.
She wore a navy business suit, low heels, and the expression she used in courtrooms when everyone else had already decided emotion would control the room.
Eric leaned against a black luxury SUV.
Shirtless.
Tattoo visible along one arm.
Eating chips from the bag like the eviction belonged to someone else.
Beside him, Chloe lifted a teacup and smiled.
Paige looked at the boxes.
Then at Robert.
Then at the foreclosure notice taped beside the front door.
Margaret rushed toward her.
She grabbed Paige by both arms.
“Please. Make the payment.”
Paige pulled free carefully.
“How much?”
Margaret blinked.
“You know how much.”
“No. I know what I paid last month.”
Eric laughed.
“Here we go.”
Paige turned toward him.
He crushed another chip between his teeth.
“Just pay it again,” he said. “You always do.”
That sentence finished something inside her.
Paige opened the briefcase.
She removed the mortgage agreement, the original family will, three loan statements, and a copy of the SUV financing contract.
Then she threw them onto the hood of Eric’s vehicle.
The wind opened the pages.
Eric’s smile disappeared.
“Maybe your favorite son should save you,” Paige said.
Margaret stared at the will.
Then slapped Paige across the face.
The crack echoed down the street.
Paige’s head turned.
Blood appeared at the corner of her lip.
She slowly faced her mother again.
No anger.
Only recognition.
Eric moved next.
He grabbed Paige’s suitcase from beside her car and hurled it across the driveway.
The case burst open.
Clothes scattered.
Books hit the gravel.
A framed photograph broke beneath a wheel.
Personal files spun into the wind.
Neighbors gasped.
Paige wiped the blood from her mouth and removed her phone.
She pressed one button.
A diesel engine rumbled at the end of the street.
A tow truck turned into the driveway.
Eric looked over his shoulder.
The driver lowered the hook toward the SUV.
Paige held Eric’s gaze.
“The loan is in my name.”
Eric charged toward her, reaching for the phone.
Paige stepped aside.
He stumbled.
The tow driver attached the chain.
Margaret collapsed onto her knees.
Robert stared at the paperwork as if he had just discovered the family home had never belonged to him.
Eric spun around.
The SUV’s front wheels were already rising.
“You can’t do this!”
Paige said nothing.
May you like
Because the vehicle was only the first thing she had stopped paying for.
The house would reveal the rest.
