Daniel’s face looked pristine and collected on the screen, “Maya, we’re currently processing your eviction, as you may know, the last residents at the home have refused to vacate and the Deputy Sheriff is on scene right now.”
Celeste’s face dropped and void of life.
I could hear loud noises in the background of Daniel’s call. I heard a woman yelling in hysterics and a male voice in a very calm tono saying, “Excuse me Ma’am. We will put all of these items either into storage or to be disposed of as authorized.”
While Daniel continued speaking to me on the video call, I moved my phone, so they could see what I was looking at.
On the video feed, I captured a visual of all of Celeste’s designer luggage being thrown into a dumpster outside of my house.Vanessa did not have to say what she said for me to know what she meant.
She was right about what she was saying, and I responded by looking at her properly.
What I said next was to inform her.
Richard reached for the telephone, but Security had already stopped him.
What followed was a total breakdown of order.
Vanessa accused me of being insane. Celeste screamed about how much we would lose due to our antiques. Richard yelled to speak to anyone, including his supervisor, attorney, and give him their names and what they could do for him.
Meanwhile, I stayed in my hospital bed, losing blood through my bandages with both of my babies safe in my arms, while Nurse Alvarez had placed a call to a doctor.
When Daniel started speaking, there was silence throughout the room.
“Richard, since you are here now, we would like you to be made aware of what happened this morning. The property at 418 Hawthorne Lane is now in the name of Maya Elise Warren per the Marital Asset Protection Agreement that you signed 18 months ago.”
Richard became paler the longer Dan spoke, until eventually, his face had nothing left.
“I never signed anything like that,” Richard yelled out at Dan.
“You signed it before you received Maya’s bridge loan, which stopped Huntsley Development from going into foreclosure,” said Daniel.
She [Celeste] heard Dan and turned to Richard in disbelief, “You put a mortgage on my house?”
I quietly said, “My house.”
Vanessa pointed her finger at me and screamed. “She did this to him!”
I said, “No, he did this. He forged my signature on two clinic accounts, transferred marital funds into [Celeste’s] shell company, and even prepared the emergency custody paperwork while I was in surgery.”“I allowed him to continue to believe that I didn’t know anything so that he would remain brimming with hubris and continue text messaging me.”
Richard looked at me as though I had suddenly appeared from the hospital bed outfitted in armor.
I reached for my phone again.
Screenshots.
Bank transfers and receipts.
Emails.
Custody draft declaring me as ’emotionally fragile’ and ‘medically fragile.’
Celeste’s message indicating that when the breeder was ‘safely sedated’, sign on the dotted line.
Vanessa’s message indicating that she would induce ”fear” into Celeste to compel Celeste to vacate the premises.
Nurse Alvarez covered her mouth.
Even security guards stopped smiling.
The police arrived 12 minutes later.
Vanessa made attempts to be charming, then cried, then yelled.
None of this worked.
The evidence of the burns on my skin, the torn stitches on my body, the coffee cup used as a weapon and the documentation of the nurse along with the security footage from outside my room revealed a far clearer picture of events.
She was arrested for an assault.
Celeste was served in the hospital’s foyer, wearing her sunglasses but was still inside, while the police conveyed that she was under a restraining order away from my home.
Richard reserved his absolute cold appearance for me.
“You’ll be sorry you humiliated me,” he accused of me.
I pressed my lips gently onto the forehead of my infant daughter. “No – Richard, I regretted ever having trusted you. This is only correction.”
By sunrise, Daniel had filed everything.
Huntsley Development’s board saw the package evidencing fraud by noon.
Richard was removed pending investigations by evening. His emergency custody request was used as part of the evidence against him. His accounts were put in freeze. His so-called associates were no longer returning his phone calls.
Three months later, I stood in my master bedroom now painted a soft green with both twins asleep against my chest.
Celeste’s blue silk curtains were no more.
Vanessa is awaiting her trial; she is currently living with an aunt whom she pays rent to reside with.
Richard is presently fighting fraud charges against him and getting divorced while pursuing his rights for visitation which he has earned the right of supervision only at this point.
I stood from the window.
I am scarred and emotionally scarred but also strong, stable, and alive.
My son began to wake slightly.
My daughter sighed lightly during her sleep.
Finally, I have a quiet home.
And for the first time, a home that IS all MINE.
