Chapter 219 - 217: Violent Eviction

The building was brightly lit. Although it got dark early in winter, most companies let out between five and six in the evening, and in Lorcain, working overtime was the norm.

So at this hour, almost everyone in the building’s various companies was still at work.

"Boss, they’re on the sixth floor."

"Leo, take the guys and go up the stairs first," Duane said to the men behind him. Then he followed Cecilia Sterling into the elevator. "Cecilia, are we getting physical?"

Cecilia Sterling glanced at him and smiled. "Not this time. Just clear them out of the park for me."

Hearing this, Duane raised an eyebrow. "OK, understood."

The young employee standing to the side kept his head bowed, not daring to look at them, let alone speak. He was trembling inwardly, his mind racing. ’Just who is this new boss?’

’The mafia?’

’No, that doesn’t seem right...’

A group of burly men surged out of the stairwell, startling the employees on the sixth floor. People crowded at their office doors to watch the spectacle, wondering what all the commotion was about.

Cecilia Sterling and the other two soon emerged from the elevator. While she might have been an unfamiliar face, many people recognized the property management staff. After all, practically every single tenant in this building was behind on rent.

The property management’s collections team came by frequently. They never got any money, but everyone had certainly gotten to know their faces.

The large group marched purposefully toward Elysian Design Studio, drawing employees from other companies, who tagged along to see the drama unfold.

"Boss, this is it!"

Through the transparent glass double doors, one could see the company’s exquisite interior. Perhaps because the design industry emphasizes such things, the small studio of less than a hundred square meters was decorated with impressive style.

Without knocking, Cecilia Sterling pushed the door open. The motion triggered a wind chime behind the door, which let out a crisp, pleasant sound.

A young woman instinctively got up and walked over, a smile on her face. But before she could speak, she saw a stream of people pouring through the entrance, almost all of them tall, burly, and scowling.

She stumbled back a step, looking at Cecilia Sterling in alarm. "Excuse me, who... who are you looking for?"

Holden from property management stepped forward and spoke on his boss’s behalf. "We’re from the Genesis Park Property Management Department. We issued an eviction notice to your company this afternoon, and we’re here now to enforce it."

The young woman was clearly just a regular employee. She recognized Holden and instinctively fell back on the excuse her boss had taught her. "Oh, Holden, our boss isn’t here."

"It doesn’t matter if he’s here or not. It won’t stop the eviction," Cecilia Sterling said coolly.

The young woman glanced at Cecilia Sterling. She stood with her hands in the pockets of her cashmere coat, her slender frame a stark contrast to the burly men surrounding her, yet she commanded a powerful presence.

Before the woman could speak again, Cecilia shot a look at Duane.

Duane understood immediately. He clapped his hands and ordered, "Alright, guys, let’s make it quick! Throw everything in this room that isn’t a person out onto the street outside the park!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the large men sprang into action. They swarmed forward, and the office employees scrambled to their feet and backed away, terrified the men would get violent.

They unfolded the cardboard boxes they had brought from the property management office in the middle of the room. Without a second thought for what was on the desks, they swept everything up in their arms and tossed it all into the boxes.

Just then, the very boss who had claimed to be out suddenly darted out from somewhere.

"What do you think you’re doing?" A bald man with glasses mustered his courage and stepped forward to stop them. Seeing his company’s documents, design drafts, and computers being thrown into boxes like trash, he finally started to panic. "Don’t throw that! You can’t throw that away! Stop! We can talk this out!"

"We have nothing more to say to you. The eviction notice was delivered in advance, which gave your company time to back up its files. We will pursue the rent your company owes through legal channels. But given your company’s complete lack of contractual integrity, we have no intention of continuing to rent this office space to you."

Holden said to the boss, his expression serious. Perhaps because he had grown to thoroughly detest the man, Holden’s tone was ice-cold, his eyes filled with disgust.

"Holden, you can’t do this! A forced eviction is illegal! If you don’t stop, I’m calling the police!" the bald man yelled, stomping his foot in desperation. But there were simply too many people from property management, and they all looked so menacing that he didn’t dare try to physically stop them.

"Then call the police."

This didn’t come from Holden, but from Cecilia Sterling.

She stared at the bald man, her expression frosty and utterly fearless. "Go on, call them now. I’d love to see how much the police can help you."

"Who... who are you?" the bald man asked, his brow furrowed in suspicion.

Holden snorted. "This is the owner of Genesis Park."

His voice wasn’t loud, but it wasn’t quiet either. Not only did the bald man hear it, but so did some of the onlookers outside.

"What? That young woman is..."

"For real? I heard the new owner hadn’t shown their face yet and was planning to sell the park anyway."

"Why show up now, right before the New Year? Is Elysian really getting thrown out by force?"

"This doesn’t look fake..."

As the people crowded in the doorway were muttering, two burly men emerged, each holding one side of a large box. "Make way!"

The crowd scattered, pressing themselves against the walls on either side as they watched the men efficiently pack up and carry away the studio’s contents.

The bald boss’s wails could be heard from inside, but what could one man do against twenty burly guys? He was completely powerless to stop them.

In less than half an hour, the entire office was practically gutted.

"Cecilia, everything’s been piled up at the east gate," Duane reported.

Cecilia Sterling nodded. The eviction process had been a bit forceful, but the computers and paper documents had all been packed into boxes. The desks and chairs weren’t going to blow away in the wind. In reality, the bald boss could just call a moving truck and have everything hauled away.

But to have your company shut down so suddenly in the dead of winter, right before the New Year... all of his ongoing projects would be forced to a halt. The company’s losses would be anything but small—likely far exceeding the overdue rent.

The bald man sat slumped on the floor, his face a mask of utter despair. Behind him, a dozen or so employees stood dumbfounded, clutching their laptops.

’Are we... laid off now?’

Cecilia Sterling felt not a shred of pity for such a person. "From the moment you decided to be a deadbeat, you should have known this day would come. Did you really think I couldn’t do anything to you just because you incited a group of freeloaders like yourself?"