#Chapter 19 – Daddy’s House

“Please,” I say, clutching the phone and trying to explain the situation to my landlord. “You don’t understand, this is an angry former client who has no grounds for this harassment – “

My boys are at Victor’s house, meeting Amelia, thank god. I don’t want them to hear any of this.

“It doesn’t matter to me, Ms. Ortega,” my landlord’s tinny voice zings through the phone. “It doesn’t matter to me if the client’s vandalism is unfounded – what matters is that my tenant is putting me in a situation where my home is being vandalized!”

I slap my hand to my forehead. Overnight, Emily came back and spraypainted w***e LIVES HERE all over my front windows. It was everything I could do to get it scrubbed off before Victor picked up the boys, but I guess I wasn’t fast enough.

“You have six weeks,” she says, prim and cruel. “Then I’m renting to someone else, someone who doesn’t do s*x work to pay my mortgage.”

I exhale, clenching my teeth against the rage that builds inside me. Her false accusations aside, it is unfortunately within her written rights to end my lease with six week’s notice, for any reason. “Fine,” I say, unwilling to fight anymore.

She hangs up and I rest my head back against my office chair. God. What the hell was I going to do now.

The time passes too quickly. I apply – quietly, discreetly – to every open house in the area, but every one tells me no. My landlord, unfortunately, has poisoned my name and my reputation.

The night before my lease ends, I sit up, alone, in the silence of my office. I don’t want to scare the boys, but we have to be out tomorrow and we have absolutely nowhere to go.

I even asked Mark for help, and Delia. They were sympathetic, of course, but they both live in one-room apartments. Neither could offer me anything real. Delia even called her parents, in Ohio, and they said they’d be happy to take us in – but I don’t want to uproot my boys like that.

Luckily, the boys been distracted, spending so much time with their dad. I never thought I’d be grateful to him for taking them away from me.

The next day is Monday, so I pack the boys off to school. When they’re gone, I head to the realtor’s office, ready to chase up one last lead. The realtor herself is sympathetic, but the lead goes nowhere. When we arrive to view the house, the key is missing from the hide-a-key.

The realtor twists her mouth at me, clearly feeling bad. “I’m sorry, Evelyn,” she says. “Looks like they got to this one as well.”

I sigh and climb back into my car, heading home. What the hell was I going to do?

As I pull up my street, my eyes find sheer chaos. s**t s**t s**t, I think, throwing my car in park, leaping out and running towards the front door where guys are throwing my stuff – all of my stuff, the boys’ toys, my linens, the food from my fridge – onto the front lawn.

I cry, running to hold them back. “You don’t understand, I’m

our job.” With that, he dumps the box with my laptop onto the

file aren’t corrupted. Thank god – everything, my client list, my

up – Mrs. Welk – and my boys climb out of the back seat, crying their eyes out. I make eye contact with Mrs. Welk, intending to

everything is fine. But wait – I look over the boys and realize that they’re not

has a scraped knee, and Ian a

me. Ian

I say, true fear leeching into my voice. “Are

with their backs to the house, lest they see what’s happening and further freak out.

say, softly,

as usual. “They were just so horrible about you, mama,”

a prota- prostatute,” he says, pronouncing the word

thousand boyfriends,” Ian goes on, “and that you let

they give you

you like it –“ At this Ian and Alvin start to cry harder, and I hold them close, filled with rage at the horrible children who would say such vicious things

so eager to stay here, if this is how

to leave, I whisper to the boys to be strong, to not believe anything those stupid kid at school said, and to go and sit in the car while mommy makes

glad to have someone else in control. As they

I turn and

preparing myself for this. Then I walk over to him, pasting a sunny smile on my face. “Hey Vic! Beautiful day we’re having here. Are you just

glares down at me, unamused. “What the f**k is going on, Evelyn,” he says

to cancel the

Evelyn,” he snarls, “what’s happening!? Are you being

that it’s any of your business, Victor,” I hiss, stepping closer and snarling into his face. “But yeah, obviously. But, as I have

head at me and surveys the scene, his Alpha need to control and dominate any situation coming out. Then he takes three steps onto the lawn and whistles, clapping his hands to

what they’re doing. “Thank you for your work,” Victor says, assured. “You are now finished – my own team

The Novel will be updated daily. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

Comments ()

0/255