Brandon: Clara, come on! We can talk about this like adults! We don't need lawyers and police!
Clara: We tried talking like adults this morning, Brandon. You chose violence instead.
Brandon: It was a mistake! I was stressed! My mother was upset!
Clara: Your mother is always upset! And you put her comfort above your own wife every single day of our marriage!
Deputy Miller: Mr. Vance, your fifteen minutes started two minutes ago. If you do not begin packing your essential clothing items, I will escort you off the property in handcuffs for defying a court order.
Brandon's eyes darted frantically between the police officers, Arthur, and me. The arrogance that usually defined his posture was completely gone, replaced by pure, desperate panic.
Brandon: Fine! I'll go get my clothes! But I need to transfer money from our joint bank account to book a hotel room!
Arthur: You no longer have access to that account, Mr. Vance. As of three o'clock, the Sterling Trust revoked your signature authority due to unauthorized personal withdrawals made to your mother's account over the last six months.
Brandon: What?! You froze my bank access?!
Eleanor: You can't freeze his money! He transferred fifty thousand dollars into my trust account last week for my medical expenses!
Clara: That fifty thousand dollars was from my inheritance distribution, Eleanor! And my lawyer has already filed a clawback motion to seize those funds back from your bank!
Eleanor: You... you stole my medical money?!
Clara: You stole MY money! You and your son have been leeching off my family while treating me like a maid in my own home!
Brandon: Clara, please! I don't have enough money in my personal checking account to pay for a hotel tonight!
Clara: Then I suggest you and your mother find a cheap motel down on Route 9. That's about all you can afford right now.
Eleanor: I am a refined woman! I will not sleep in a cheap motel!
Deputy Miller: Ma'am, if you don't step inside and gather your purse, you will be sleeping in a county holding cell tonight. Make your choice.
Eleanor gasped in horror, clutching her chest as she stumbled back into the foyer. Brandon stood on the porch, staring at me with plead filled eyes.
Brandon: Clara... we've been together for five years. How can you throw me out on the street like this?
Clara: You threw me against a wall of insults for three years, Brandon. Today, I'm just taking back what's mine. Get your bags.
Brandon turned around slowly, his head hung low in utter shame as he walked into the house under the watchful eyes of Deputy Davis.
Twenty minutes later, Brandon and Eleanor emerged carrying four mismatched suitcases and a few garbage bags filled with clothes. The moving van crew stood by the driveway, refusing to load anything without Arthur's explicit approval.
Brandon: Where am I supposed to go, Clara? My car keys are inside!
Arthur: The BMW is leased under the Sterling Trust corporate account, Mr. Vance. The keys have been repossessed. You may call a rideshare service from the curb.
Eleanor: You are taking away his car too?! How is he supposed to get to work tomorrow?!
Clara: He can take the city bus, Eleanor. It stops right at the end of the boulevard.
Brandon: The bus?! I am the senior partner of an accounting firm!
Clara: You WERE a partner at an accounting firm, Brandon. But since your primary client was my father's manufacturing company, I suggest you check your email before tomorrow morning.
Brandon whipped out his phone with shaking fingers, opening his corporate email app. A second later, his face drained of all color.
Brandon: Your father terminated our management retainer contract... effective immediately?
Clara: My father doesn't do business with men who hit his daughter. Goodbye, Brandon.