After My Stepson Threw Hot Soup on Me on Christmas Eve, I Bankrupted His Entire Family Chapter 07
Only then did Robert remember.
Those gold necklaces and diamond earrings had been sold off by Brandon long ago, in secret, to buy
gaming gear.
Back then, Robert had helped his son hide it from me by saying they had been misplaced.
“You good-for-nothing waste!” Robert shoved Brandon in despair. “You burned through everything we had!”
“Quit hitting me. Think of something.” Brandon shoved him back, eyes vicious.
“This apartment’s still in your name, right? Sell it. Sell it now.”
Robert paused.
“Right. The apartment. The three-bedroom is still in my name. It may not be worth as much as the unit in the old downtown district, but it should still go for over two million. Once we sell it, we’ll
have money.”
They contacted a realtor overnight and tried to list it.
The realtor checked the records and dealt them another blow.
“Sir, you can’t sell this apartment.”
The realtor looked at the computer screen.
“The property is in your name, but it’s currently mortgaged and frozen by court order.”
“What?” Robert nearly fainted. “Who ordered that?”
“Family court,” the realtor said, pointing at the screen.
“Petitioner: Olivia Carter. Grounds: marital asset preservation and recovery of child support expenses.”
The day after Christmas, when many offices reopened, the Miller household was served with a summons from family court.
I had sued.
The grounds were clean.
First, recovery of the cost of raising my stepson, Brandon Miller, over the past ten years hundred sixty thousand dollars in total.
Second, an action against Brandon Miller for unjust enrichment.
Third, invalidation of the divorce property settlement and a request for redistribution.
– three
The agreement under which I had walked away from the assets could be set aside under the law had been grossly unfair and obtained through fraud.
it
And I had the video of Brandon throwing the scalding soup.
Somehow, that video found its way online.
The headline ran: Vicious Stepson Throws Scalding Soup at Stepsister to Steal Property; Injured Stepmother Walks Away With Nothing.
Public opinion exploded.
People dug up everything they could on Brandon.
His school, his employer, even Madison’s information
all exposed.
Brandon’s reputation was finished.
When he went outside, people pointed and stared.
Every time he turned on his phone, abuse messages flooded the screen.
“Dad, this is all your fault!”
In a dim, cheap apartment, Brandon screamed at Robert.
“If you hadn’t insisted on that worthless old deed, I wouldn’t have humiliated myself at the registry.”
“If you’d had it in you to keep that old hag in line, the whole internet wouldn’t be tearing me apart.”
“My fault?” Robert broke down too, his hair sticking up in every direction.
“Who insisted on the BMW? Who insisted on pretending he was rich? I drove Olivia away for you and now you’re blaming me?”
Slap.
Brandon’s hand came up and cracked across Robert’s face.
“Shut up. I’m starving. Cough up some money.”
“I don’t have any. You took the last two hundred to buy cigarettes,” Robert said, clutching his face, staring in disbelief at the son he had spoiled for more than twenty years.
This was the son he had always shielded.
This was the person he’d said would care for him in his old age.
He curled into a corner and cried.
His mind was full of images of Olivia bringing him hot tea, cutting steak onto his plate.
Life had been so good back then.
Too bad there was no way back.
On the day of the hearing, Robert wore a threadbare coat.
His hair had gone gray, and the light was gone from his eyes.
I sat at the plaintiff’s table in a dark suit.
Lily sat beside me.
Vivian Reed, representing me, opened.
“Your Honor, over the past ten years, the defendant Brandon Miller accepted a total of four hundred twenty thousand dollars from the plaintiff, Olivia Carter – living expenses, tuition, and other support.”
“The defendant is now an adult and fully capable of working. Yet he remained financially dependent on his stepmother for years, and committed domestic violence against both the plaintiff and her biological daughter.”
Vivian submitted a thick stack of documents.
“Detailed transfer records, video of the defendant insulting and assaulting the plaintiff and her daughter, and evidence of his reckless spending on online loan platforms.”
Brandon couldn’t sit still at the defendant’s table, still trying to argue his way out.
“She gave me the money willingly. Isn’t it a stepmother’s job to pay for things?”
“Willingly?” Vivian gave a cold laugh.
“A stepparent’s support of a stepchild is a moral obligation arising from the marriage unconditional legal obligation.”
“Since the defendants subjected the plaintiff to emotional abuse and violence during the marriage, and the marriage has since broken down, the plaintiff has the right to recover unjust enrichment.”
The judge’s gavel fell.
The ruling was plain.
The earlier divorce agreement was revoked.
The current residence was marital property and would be sold and divided.
Because Robert Miller was at fault, Olivia Carter would receive seventy percent, and Robert Miller thirty percent.
Brandon Miller was ordered to repay Olivia Carter two hundred thousand dollars in support expenses and emotional damages within the enforcement period.
When Brandon heard the ruling, he lost it.
“I don’t accept this. I don’t have money. I don’t have money. Do whatever you want.”
He suddenly lunged from the defendant’s table and tried to charge at me,
“Old hag, I’ll kill you.”
The courtroom deputies were ready.
They rushed forward and pinned him to the floor.
“What are you doing? Let go of me.”
Brandon thrashed wildly, his face twisted beyond recognition.
I stood and walked over to him.
Looking down at the stepson pinned to the floor, I smoothed the cuff of my sleeve.
“This was a civil matter to begin with. Now you’ve added disrupting court proceedings and attempted assault.”
“Spend some time inside and think about it. They give you a bed and food in there. You won’t even have to pay the electric bill.”
Because of his public attack in court- and because the online loan fraud tied to him was uncovered in the investigation that followed – Brandon was convicted on multiple counts and sentenced to three years.
The small share Robert received from the sale of the marital home wasn’t enough to cover Brandon’s high-interest debts.
To stay ahead of the collectors, Robert ended up homeless, scavenging recyclables to get by.
Lily and I moved into a new lake-view apartment.
When we opened the windows, the lake spread wide beneath us.
