Chapter 5 - The EvictionAt 12:30 AM, the lights in the grand maternity suite flickered and died, replaced by the dim, yellow glow of the emergency backup system.
Two security guards stood in the doorway, their expressions firm. "Mr. Vance, Mrs. Vance, we need you to pack your personal items and move to the third floor. The suite has been booked by another party."
"Do you know who I am?" Vanessa screamed, her hair wild, holding the crying baby Arthur in her arms. "My husband owns half this city! We pay your salaries!"
"Actually, ma'am," the lead guard said, pulling a clipboard from his belt. "This hospital wing was funded by a grant from the Sterling Foundation. The founder, Mrs. Katherine Sterling, has personally requested that the suite be cleared for a charitable admission. We suggest you move quietly."
Daniel arrived in the room, his tie undone, looking like a man who had just survived a shipwreck. "Vanessa, stop. We have to go."
"Go? To a double room? With the commoners?" Vanessa hissed, her eyes wide with fury. "Do something, Daniel! Call your lawyers! Call the mayor!"
"My lawyers aren't answering, Vanessa," Daniel whispered, his voice trembling. "Their retainer fees were paid through the corporate treasury account. The cards are dead. I tried to lease a private car to take us home, and the transaction was declined."
They were forced to pack their designer diaper bags, their silk robes, and their flowers into a plastic utility cart, escorted down the service elevator like common trespassers.
When they finally reached the standard room on the third floor—a small, cramped space with two narrow beds and a view of the brick wall of the laundry building—Vanessa sat on the edge of the mattress, weeping.
"Where is the money, Daniel?" she demanded, her voice venomous. "You told me your mother was a nobody. You told me she was just a lonely old lady who lived on a pension."
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"She is," Daniel muttered, staring at his dead phone screen. "Or... I thought she was. I didn't know she owned the holding company. I didn't know."
"You better find out," Vanessa spat. "Because if we lose our house, if we lose our status, I will take this baby and leave you with nothing."
