Chapter 5
The envelope Marcus Vance extended toward Maya hovered in the air like a ticking bomb. Maya looked down at it, her usual icy composure fracturing just enough to reveal a flicker of genuine bewilderment. She slowly reached out, her manicured fingers brushing against the stiff manila paper, and pulled the single sheet of embossed stationery from within. As her eyes scanned the typed paragraphs, the color drained rapidly from her face, leaving her staring at the paper as if it were written in a foreign language.
"What is that?" David snarled, abandoning his frantic attempt to reach his mother for a moment as jealousy and suspicion flared violently in his chest. He pushed past the dining chairs, glaring at his wife. "What did he give you? Are you in on this? Did you help them seize my properties behind my back?"
Maya ignored him completely. Her mind was racing, trying to reconcile the legal reality printed on the page with the web of lies David had spun over the past five years. She looked up slowly, her dark eyes locking onto Marcus Vance with a mixture of disbelief and cold realization.
"This... this isn't possible," Maya whispered, her voice losing its usual sharp edge. "The probate court closed this estate three years ago. The assets were supposed to be frozen pending the foreign tax audits."
Marcus offered a tight, professional smile that offered no comfort whatsoever. "Bureaucracy moves slowly, Mrs. Adebayo, until someone with actual capital forces it to clear. Your late father’s offshore holdings were released to the primary living bloodline this morning. And according to international trust law, that bloodline bypasses bankrupt spouses entirely."
Mama stirred in her chair, her breathing labored as she clutched her purple gele. The shock of the impending eviction seemed momentarily eclipsed by the baffling legal chess match unfolding before her eyes. She turned her head slowly, her tear-filled eyes fixing on Maya with a mixture of lingering resentment and desperate confusion.
"What are you talking about?" Mama rasped, her voice trembling. "What inheritance? Your father was a minor civil servant, Maya. You came from nothing. That is why I tolerated you—why I thought you were lucky to marry into a family with real standing!"
David froze, his face twisting in a grotesque combination of humiliation and sudden, calculating greed. He pivoted sharply toward his wife, his tone instantly shifting from aggressive accusation to oily, desperate charm.
"Maya," David breathed, taking a tentative step forward, his hands outstretched in a pleading gesture. "Maya, my love. If there is money... if your family has funds... we can save the house. We can pay off Vanguard Capital tonight. We can fix all of this. We are husband and wife. What’s mine is yours, and what’s yours is mine, right?"
Maya looked at her husband, a cold, bitter smile touching the corners of her lips. She slowly folded the document and slid it into the pocket of her gold silk dress.
"My father wasn't a civil servant, David," Maya said softly, stepping closer to him until she was standing just inches away. "He was the majority shareholder of the very bank that financed your father’s original estate thirty years ago."
May you like
David stepped back as if he had been struck, his mouth opening and closing soundlessly.
Before anyone else could draw a breath, the front windows of the dining room violently shattered inward as heavy stones crashed onto the hardwood floor, followed by angry shouts echoing from the dark street outside.
