Chapter 1: The Woman at the Door
Chapter 1: The Woman at the Door
Elise did not open the door immediately.
She walked calmly to the security monitor beside her kitchen and looked at the screen.
Vivian Sterling stood in the hallway wearing oversized sunglasses, a designer coat, and the expression of a woman who believed the world existed solely to serve her.
Beside her stood Nathan.
Of course he was there.
Even after the divorce, he still followed his mother like a shadow.
BOOM.
BOOM.
BOOM.
"Open this door!" Vivian screamed. "You owe me an explanation!"
Elise smiled.
Then she pressed the intercom.
"No."
The silence that followed lasted only a second.
"What did you say?" Vivian shrieked.
"I said no."
Nathan stepped closer to the camera.
"Elise, stop acting childish."
The word almost made her laugh.
Childish.
For years she had paid their mortgages, vacations, luxury shopping trips, private club memberships, and endless emergencies.
She had funded the lifestyle they called normal.
And now they called her childish for ending it.
"You have five seconds to leave before I call security."
"You wouldn't dare."
Elise pressed another button.
The building's private security team answered immediately.
"Good morning, Ms. Laurent."
"There are two trespassers outside my apartment."
Nathan's face changed.
Vivian's did not.
Because for the first time in her life, she believed consequences were meant for someone else.
Three minutes later, security escorted them from the property.
Vivian screamed the entire way down the elevator.
Nathan never looked back.
But before the doors closed, Elise saw something she had never seen before.
Fear.
Not in Vivian.
In Nathan.
Because he finally understood something.
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The money was gone.
And so was his control.
