Get back on the floor! That chair is for family, not for someone who can't even eat without making a mess!""

Pamela jumped to her feet, knocking over her espresso cup. The dark liquid pooled across the light upholstery of the sofa. "Officers! This woman is harassing us! She abandoned her husband for nine months and now she's brought strangers into our private residence!"

Agent Miller ignored Pamela entirely, looking directly at Reid. "Mr. Reid Calloway?"

Reid looked between the officers and the paperwork in Miller’s hand. "Yes?"

"I am serving you with an Emergency Protective Order on behalf of Helen Fenwick," Miller announced. "Based on preliminary evidence submitted by VCU Medical Center and licensed home-care professionals, there is probable cause to believe domestic neglect and financial exploitation have occurred. You are required to vacate this property immediately and maintain a distance of at least five hundred feet from Helen Fenwick and this residence."

"This is insane!" Tyler shouted from the stairs. "Reid didn't hurt anyone! That old woman can barely remember what day it is!"

"Sir, lower your voice," one of the officers warned, his hand resting calmly near his utility belt. "Everyone not listed on the property deed has twenty minutes to gather personal essentials and leave the premises. Anything remaining will have to be retrieved at a later date accompanied by a police escort."

"Twenty minutes?!" Pamela shrieked, clutching her chest. "Douglas has a heart condition! We can't pack our lives in twenty minutes! Reid, do something!"

Reid looked completely broken, his face flushed scarlet. He turned to me, attempting a softer tone. "Audrey, baby... look at what you're doing. You're tearing our family apart over a misunderstanding. We took Helen in. We gave her a home."

"You took her money, Reid," I said, stepping closer so only he and the officers could hear. "You diverted her physical therapy funds, stole from my accounts to prop up your sister's bankrupt business, and let your mother degrade the woman who raised me. You have nineteen minutes left."

Brooke was already running upstairs to grab her luggage, in tears. Tyler rushed up behind her, cursing under his breath. Pamela stood frozen in the middle of the room, looking at her son for answers that weren't coming.

"Where are we supposed to go?" Pamela demanded, tears of outrage finally spilling down her powdered cheeks. "We don't have access to the credit cards! How are we going to pay for a hotel?"

"I suggest you check into a budget motel with the cash remaining in Reid's personal account," I replied coldly. "Or perhaps you can sell that designer handbag you bought last Tuesday with my emergency card."

Douglas, Reid's quiet, complicit father who had watched my mother sit on the floor without uttering a single word of protest, walked down the stairs holding two duffel bags. He looked at Reid, shook his head in disgust, and walked out to the driveway without saying a word to anyone.

Reid grabbed his jacket from the hall tree. As he reached the front door, he stopped and turned to look at me, his eyes filled with pure venom.

"You think you've won, Audrey?" he hissed. "You think you're so smart with your corporate contracts and your big bank accounts. You don't know the half of what's been happening while you were in Alaska. When the truth comes out about what I really spent that money on, you'll be begging me to settle."

"I look forward to discovery, Reid," I said steadily. "Tell your lawyer to be prompt."