Chapter 4 - BROOKE’S PEACEFUL HOME
Brooke recovered first.
She laughed.
“You’re going to destroy a company because I receive a salary?”
I looked at her.
“What exactly do you do for eighteen thousand dollars a month?”
“I advise on lifestyle branding.”
“Name one project.”
She opened her mouth.
Nothing came out.
“Name one report.”
She looked toward Richard.
“Richard?”
I smiled faintly.
“Please.”
“Answer.”
Richard stepped between us.
“This is business.”
“Yes.”
I said.
“And I own sixty-four percent of it.”
Victoria slammed the folder onto the table.
“You own shares.”
“We built the company.”
Evelyn answered.
“You built operations using Bennett capital.”
Victoria glared at her.
“No one asked you.”
Evelyn smiled.
“That will probably be the nicest thing anyone says to me tonight.”
I nearly laughed.
Brooke looked toward Caleb.
He had put his headphones back on.
“Can we at least send him upstairs?”
I stared at her.
“No.”
“He doesn’t need to hear adult financial matters.”
“He needed not to hear you say your son deserved a peaceful home more than he did.”
Brooke’s face hardened.
“That is not what I said.”
“It is recorded.”
She froze.
I pointed toward the small security camera above the built-in shelves.
“This room has audio.”
Victoria looked upward.
Richard closed his eyes.
Brooke’s voice lowered.
“You recorded us?”
“No.”
“The security system recorded a common area of my home.”
Evelyn added.
“And the footage has already been preserved.”
Brooke stood.
“I’m leaving.”
I nodded.
“That’s a good idea.”
She walked toward the hallway.
Then Evelyn spoke.
“You should know the guesthouse lease ends at midnight Friday.”
Brooke stopped.
“What lease?”
“The corporate occupancy license Richard created to justify your residence.”
She turned.
“You’re evicting me?”
“No.”
I replied.
“The company is ending your free use of property while liquidation proceeds.”
“I have a child.”
“So do I.”
Brooke looked toward Caleb.
The cruelty in her eyes returned.
“Tyler has been miserable here because everybody has to act like the world ended eight months ago.”
I was across the room before I realized I had moved.
But I did not touch her.
I stopped inches away.
“My son watched his best friend die.”
Brooke’s expression flickered.
I continued.
“Your son has spent months being told to tease him because you call his symptoms ridiculous.”
“I never told Tyler to tease him.”
“No?”
I took out my phone.
I opened a saved video.
Tyler’s voice.
Mom says Caleb gets scared because Aunt Emma babies him.
Brooke stared at the screen.
Her face lost color.
May you like
I looked at her.
“Peaceful homes do not require one traumatized child to disappear.”
