Chapter 10 - Penelope's Final Begging and the Eviction
While Garrett was losing his mind in detention, Penelope was experiencing the cold, brutal reality of total social and financial ruin.
Stripped of her executive salary, her company car, and her luxury credit cards, Penelope had attempted to seek refuge at the Savannah Yacht Club, only to be physically turned away at the security gate by guards who had received formal trespass notices from the Sterling Trust.
Her former socialite friends had blocked her phone number. The high-end boutiques where she had spent stolen company funds refused to accept her presence.
At 2:00 PM, Penelope returned to the luxury riverside townhouse in Savannah Creek, intending to pack her designer wardrobe and jewelry before the marshals arrived.
When she pulled up to the driveway in a battered yellow taxi, she found two moving vans parked outside.
Four uniformed sheriff’s deputies and a court-appointed bailiff were systematically carrying every piece of designer furniture, wardrobe trunk, and art piece out onto the front lawn.
Standing on the front porch, reviewing an itemized inventory on an iPad, was Tobias.
“Stop! What are you doing with my things?!” Penelope screamed, running up the brick walkway, clutching her swollen belly.
Tobias didn't look up from his screen. “Miss Sterling, under the Emergency Asset Recovery Order signed by Judge Vance this morning, every item purchased with funds derived from Sterling Marine Works accounts between January 2021 and the present date has been placed under judicial attachment.”
The bailiff opened a heavy velvet jewelry box, pulling out the diamond tennis bracelet Penelope had worn to her secret meetings with Victor Davenport.
“That’s mine! Garrett gave that to me!” Penelope shrieked, lunging for the box.
A female deputy stepped forward, firmly blocking Penelope’s path. “Step back, ma’am. Interfere with the bailiffs again and you will be arrested for contempt of court.”
Tobias walked down the porch steps, holding a single, small cardboard box containing a few framed photographs of Penelope’s childhood and her original college diploma.
He set the box at her feet.
“Inside that box are the items you owned before you began stealing from our family,” Tobias said calmly. “You have ten minutes to take it and vacate the property.”
Penelope collapsed onto the manicured lawn, weeping hysterically. “Tobias… please! Look at me! I am seven months pregnant! Where am I supposed to go?! I don't have a penny! Donald Vance has vanished to avoid his disbarment hearing! I have nowhere to live!”
Tobias looked down at her with an expression of quiet, sorrowful finality.
“You should have thought about where you would live before you stood on that riverbank under an umbrella and watched your brother and sister sink into fifty feet of water,” Tobias said.
“I made a mistake!” she wailed. “I was young! I was jealous!”
“Jealousy is a character flaw, Penelope,” Tobias replied. “Attempted murder is a felony. The Chatham County Department of Family and Children’s Services has already been notified. When your child is born, the state will place them with a vetted, loving foster family until you complete your criminal sentence.”
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Tobias turned on his heel, walked back into the townhouse, and shut the heavy oak front door.
Penelope sat alone on the grass, surrounded by the cardboard remnants of her stolen life, weeping as the autumn rain began to fall once again over Savannah Creek.
