Chapter Ten

"You took your sweet time, Vanessa," Andrea grumbled, leaning heavily against the doorframe, trying to force an impatient, patronizing smirk onto his groggy, sweat-streaked face. "I hope everything is—"

The words froze in his parched throat.

There was no Vanessa. There was no luggage crew, no luxury vehicle waiting down in the dusty courtyard, and no golden set of electronic key fobs for the hilltop villa across the road.

Standing directly on the cracked welcome mat in the dim morning hallway was a skinny, mangy stray dog. Its ribs pressed sharply against its patchy, dust-matted fur, its tongue lolling out as it panted heavily in the thick morning humidity. The animal lifted its snout, sniffing pitifully at the hems of Andrea’s stained trousers, drawn by the faint scent of stale takeout that hung on the family's clothes.

For three agonizing seconds, absolute silence hung over the open doorway.

Behind him in the living room, the loud bang of the door swinging open had finally dragged the rest of the family out of their heavy sleep. Susan groaned, rubbing her swollen, crusty eyes as she sat up on the sofa, her hair a tangled, sticky mess. Beside her, little Leo let out a disoriented whimper.

Veronica jolted upright in her hard dining chair, her neck cracking painfully as she blinked away the haze of exhaustion. Her bloodshot eyes darted toward the entrance, instant greed flaring up in her chest.

"Is she here?!" Veronica rasped, her voice dry and gravelly from the overnight heat. She pushed herself up with stiff legs and shoved past Susan, rushing toward the doorway. "Did the ungrateful girl finally decide to show her face?!"

But as Veronica reached her son’s shoulder and stared out into the hallway, her furious, expectant expression twisted into sheer, reviled horror.

"What... what is *that*?!" Veronica shrieked, her voice cracking violently into a ragged, high-pitched scream. "Where is Vanessa?! Why is there a filthy, diseased mutt standing at our door?!"

The dog let out a sharp, startled bark at the sudden screech, making Andrea flinch backward in surprise.

"Get out! Get away from here, you brute!" Andrea yelled, his face turning a deep, humiliated shade of crimson as he kicked his foot outward to scare the animal away.

The dog yelped, turning tail and scurrying frantically down the narrow, echoey stairwell, its claws clicking loudly against the concrete until the heavy metal entry door downstairs slammed shut.

Andrea stood frozen in the open doorway, his chest heaving, staring out at the empty corridor. The harsh 6:00 AM sunlight filtered through the dust-covered hallway window, illuminating the bare, peeling walls and exposing the absolute absurdity of their night.

"Andrea..." Susan whimpered, shuffling over in her wrinkled, sweat-stained clothes, clutching a crying little Leo to her hip. Her cheap makeup was completely melted down her neck in dark streaks. "Where is she? She said she was coming at midnight... then morning..."

"She... she lied," Veronica whispered, her voice trembling as the brutal reality finally began to puncture through her thick layers of pride and delusion. "She made us sit here all night in forty-degree heat... sweating like pigs in this filthy room... waiting for her like fools..."

"No," Andrea insisted sharply, though his voice lacked any real conviction. His knuckles turned white as he slammed the wooden door shut and threw the deadbolt back into place with a loud, metallic clatter. "No, there has to be a logical explanation. A security delay at the main gates, or the interior decorators running late—she explicitly said she was finalizing the security handover for our suites."

"Logical explanation?!" Veronica bellowed, stepping directly into his space, her trembling, rage-filled fingers pointing frantically at the coffee table. "You foolish boy, look at us! We spent the entire night sleeping on hard chairs and sticky couches! My back is broken, my throat is parched, and we are covered in sweat! Call that useless girl right now! Call her and demand to know why she left us suffocating in this dump like animals while she slept peacefully in her air-conditioned mansion!"

"Mummy is right, Andrea," Susan chimed in, her voice rising in frantic panic as she wiped sweat from her forehead. "You need to put her in her place! Tell her we expect a full apology and her personal chauffeur at our door in ten minutes, or you’re canceling the engagement!"

"All of you, quiet!" Andrea barked, his own heart hammering against his ribs as he snatched his smartphone off the worn couch cushion. "I am calling her right now. Put it on speaker? Fine. I want you all to hear her beg for forgiveness."

His hands shook as he swiped the screen, tapping Vanessa’s contact, and hit the call button. He immediately slapped the speakerphone option, holding the device out in the center of the room so they could all witness his authority over her.

Instead of a dial tone, an automated, mechanical operator's voice blared loudly through the speaker:

*> "Your account balance is insufficient to complete this call. Please recharge your line and try again."*

The room went dead silent. Andrea’s face completely drained of color.

"What?" he muttered, staring at the screen in blank disbelief. "Insufficient balance? That's impossible."

"What do you mean insufficient balance?!" Veronica shrieked, grabbing his arm so hard her fingernails dug into his damp linen sleeve. "How can your phone have no balance?! You have an unlimited corporate line!"

"I don't know!" Andrea yelled back, panic finally cracking through his composure. "Use Susan's phone! Use my phone! Call her now!"

Susan frantically grabbed her phone from the side table, jamming her thumb against the power button repeatedly. The screen remained pitch black. A tiny, hollow red battery icon flickered once in the center before dying completely.

"Mummy, my battery is completely dead!" Susan wailed, her voice rising in pitch as she shook the useless piece of glass. "The power grid flickered out around three in the morning and my phone died while I was sleeping!"

"Use mine!" Veronica barked, snatching her heavy handbag off the dining chair and digging out her phone. She slammed her thumb against the power button, but the display didn't even flicker. "Dead?! How on earth is my phone dead too?!"

"Because you were sitting there playing games on it all evening while we waited!" Susan cried out, gesturing wildly in frustration. "You used up the last ten percent before midnight!"

"Silence! Both of you, shut up!" Andrea snapped, his own phone screen mocking him with the low-balance error message. Cold sweat broke out across his forehead—a icy terror that had nothing to do with the suffocating forty-degree heat trapping them in the living room.

He had relied entirely on his premium postpaid business line, which was linked directly to the corporate master account Vanessa controlled. If the call couldn't connect because of zero balance, it meant one terrifying thing: she had stripped his access completely.

"She didn't just delay," Andrea whispered, his knees feeling suddenly weak as he stared down at the blank screen in his palm. "She cut the line."

Before Veronica could launch into another furious tirade, a loud, official THUD-THUD-THUD* rattled the front door.

It wasn't a soft, timid knock. It was the heavy, authoritative bang of a fist against solid wood.

"Tinnons family!" a stern, booming voice echoed from the hallway outside. "This is Apartment Management and City Process Services! Open this door immediately!"