Chapter 5 - The True Owner Steps Forward
Eleanor took a ragged step back, her heel catching on the edge of a stray porcelain fragment. She stumbled, grabbing Aunt Tammy’s shoulder for support.
"No..." Eleanor whispered, her eyes wide with a horrific realization. "No, no, no... Ethan, tell me she's joking. Tell me this is a sick game!"
Ethan didn't look at his mother. He stared at the floor, his shoulders hunched in complete defeat. "I tried to tell you, Mom. The night before the rehearsal dinner, I brought the trust documents to your house. I told you that Anna’s family background was private because her father hates press exposure. I told you she wasn't someone you could push around. You threw the folder on the coffee table without opening it and said, 'I don't care about some nobody's family paperwork.'"
Aunt Tammy let out a small, terrified squeak. "Eleanor... you didn't read the papers?"
"I thought he was just trying to defend her!" Eleanor cried out, her voice cracking with pure panic. "I thought he was ashamed because she didn't have a lineage!"
"My lineage," I said, stepping closer to Eleanor, "buys and sells families like yours before breakfast."
I pulled my phone from my skirt pocket, tapped the screen twice, and put the call on speaker.
A crisp, professional male voice with a slight Swiss-English accent echoed through the speaker.
"Good afternoon, Miss Montgomery. I trust the estate in New York is to your liking?"
"Hello, Arthur," I said smoothly. "The estate is fine, but we've had a slight administrative issue in the living room."
"An issue, ma'am?" Arthur’s tone sharpened instantly. "Do I need to contact private security or dispatch the legal team?"
"Not security yet," I replied, watching Eleanor’s face crumble in real time. "I need you to clarify something for the people currently standing in my house. Who owns the deed to the Pierce manor on Oak Ridge Drive?"
"The Oak Ridge estate?" Arthur paused briefly, the sound of paper rustling over the line. "That property was acquired by Montgomery Holdings three years ago as part of the debt collateral package. The title is held under your private personal trust, Miss Montgomery. Technically, you are the sole deed holder. The Pierce family resides there under a revocable lease agreement, subject to your approval."
"And who pays the monthly maintenance and allowance for Mrs. Eleanor Pierce?" I asked softly.
"That allowance is disbursed directly from your primary operational account, ma'am. Per your instructions last month, the monthly stipend of eighty-five thousand dollars was set to auto-renew on the first of each month—pending your final review."
"Thank you, Arthur. Hold the line for a moment."
I looked up from the phone.
Eleanor was pale as chalk, clutching her chest, looking as if she were about to faint. Aunt Tammy was shivering, staring at me as if I were a ghost. Cousin Paul had quietly backed all the way into the corner of the room, trying to make himself as invisible as possible.
"Eighty-five thousand dollars a month," I said quietly, letting the numbers hang in the thick air. "That's the 'Pierce family trust' you’ve been bragging about at the country club, Eleanor. That’s the money that paid for your Bentley, your designer clothes, and that fine china teacup you were holding when you told me to serve your family."
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"Anna..." Eleanor’s voice came out as a weak, strangled rasp. The arrogant matriarch was completely gone, replaced by a desperate, terrified woman staring into the abyss of her own total ruin. "Anna, please... I... I didn't know..."
"You didn't know," I repeated, my voice dropping into a register of pure, arctic steel. "Because you were so blinded by your own snobbery, so eager to stomp on a girl you thought was beneath you, that you didn't even bother to learn my name."
