Chapter 4 - The Unraveling of the Free Labor Empire
By 7:00 the next morning, the reality of Helen's absence had turned the beautiful colonial home on Elm Street into a disaster area.
There was no coffee waiting on the counter, no fresh breakfast rolls in the oven, and the dirty dishes from the birthday dinner still sat piled in the sink.
Leo was screaming in the living room because his school uniform hadn't been laundered, and Megan was frantically trying to find the spare keys to the garage.
"Ryan! Where does your mother keep the auxiliary checkbooks?" Megan shouted, slamming the kitchen cabinets shut in a panic.
"The landscaping crew is outside, and they're refusing to clear the driveway without the monthly payment!"
"The accounts are frozen, Megan," Ryan said, walking into the kitchen with his tie half-undone, his face hollow from a lack of sleep.
"I tried to use the corporate card to order a grocery delivery this morning, and the bank told me the secondary user access was revoked at midnight."
Megan stood in the center of the unwashed kitchen, her perfect suburban facade completely crumbling under the pressure of a single morning without assistance.
"This is ridiculous! She's doing this out of pure malice! We have a child to take care of!"
"She's doing this because we treated her like a maid, Megan," Ryan said, his voice dropping into a quiet, heavy tone as he looked at the empty stove.
"The recording... the things you said about her hands being dirty... she listened to every single word while she was making that salmon for your father."
"You didn't stop me from saying it, Ryan!" Megan snapped, her eyes flashing with anger. "You laughed! Don't try to play the saint now!"
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The front doorbell rang sharply, cutting off their argument as a man in a tailored dark suit stood on the porch holding a leather legal briefcase.
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