Caleb let out a slow, quiet breath. The corners of his mouth twitched upward into a microscopic, deadly smirk. He reached into the back pocket of his dark jeans and pulled out a heavy, water-resistant envelope. He tossed Patricia’s useless HOA contract into the muddy trench and pulled a thick, legally bound document from his own envelope.
He unfolded it slowly, revealing the heavy red seal of the county clerk's office. He stepped right up to the edge of the trench, towering over Patricia. The flashing police lights caught the gold embossed lettering at the top of the page. Caleb didn't hand it to Patricia; he turned and handed it directly to the lead police officer.
He looked down at Patricia, his voice dropping an octave, carrying the concussive force of an avalanche.
"Then let them watch," Caleb said, his voice ringing out with absolute, devastating authority. "You just called the cops on your own landlord."
The silence that followed was absolute, broken only by the crackle of the police radio. Patricia’s smug smile vanished instantly, replaced by a look of sheer, unadulterated horror.
The lead officer clicked on his flashlight, reading over the master deed Caleb had handed him. The officer’s eyes widened. "Ma'am," the officer said, looking at Patricia with a mixture of shock and profound annoyance. "This is a commercial master deed. Mr. Caleb owns this seventy-acre parcel... and he also holds the commercial ground lease for the entire Whispering Pines subdivision. Your HOA leases the land from his holding company."
Patricia stumbled backward, the heels of her nude shoes sinking slightly into the mud. The color drained completely from her face. The Whispering Pines development had been built on leased land to keep the initial housing costs down—a fact deeply buried in the homeowners' closing contracts, but one that Patricia, as the board president, should have known.
The crowd of neighbors in the background began to murmur, the realization of what was happening rippling through them. Patricia had just attempted to use the police to harass and extort the billionaire who quite literally owned the dirt beneath their foundations.