Chapter 10 - Stephanie’s Vanity Fair Crashes: Eviction From The Luxury Penthouse
While Luca was sitting in a holding cell at the Boulder County Jail awaiting arraignment on criminal trespass charges, his sister Stephanie was experiencing her own catastrophic reckoning in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Stephanie had fled Colorado forty-eight hours earlier, believing that if she distanced herself from Luca and Wendy’s public collapse, she could continue living her fabricated lifestyle as an elite fashion influencer. She had checked into a luxury penthouse suite at a high-end Scottsdale resort, using a corporate secondary booking token that had somehow slipped through the initial automated freeze.
She spent the entire morning recording promotional videos for her social media channels, surrounding herself with borrowed designer shopping bags and posing on the sun-drenched balcony.
“Hey everyone!” Stephanie beamed into her smartphone ring light, wearing heavy makeup and an oversized designer blazer. “So many of you have been asking about our family’s new private estate transition! We are doing some incredible rebranding this quarter, focusing on ultra-luxury lifestyle retreats and international real estate!”
Just as she was about to start her live video stream, a sharp, authoritative knock rattled the heavy oak door of the penthouse suite.
Stephanie rolled her eyes, pausing her phone recording. “Ugh, room service took forever with the acai bowls.”
She sashayed over to the door and swung it open, wearing an expression of bored annoyance.
Standing in the hallway was the hotel’s Director of Hospitality, accompanied by two uniformed Scottsdale police officers and a private process server holding a thick manila envelope.
Stephanie blinked, her smile vanishing. “Um, can I help you?”
The Director stepped forward, his tone ice-cold. “Stephanie Vance?”
“Yes... what is this?”
“Miss Vance, forty minutes ago, the corporate master account under Skyline Crest Holdings LLC flagged this room reservation as an unauthorized, fraudulent booking,” the Director stated, presenting an official billing audit report. “The total accrued balance for this suite, including room service, spa treatments, and private cabana rentals over the last three days—amounting to eleven thousand eight hundred dollars—has been reversed and marked as theft of hospitality services.”
Stephanie gasped, clutching her robe tightly around her chest. “That’s absurd! My sister-in-law is the CEO! This is a routine family travel account!”
The process server stepped forward, handing her the thick manila envelope.
“You have been served with a formal Demand for Restitution and a Cease-and-Desist Notice issued by Reed & Sterling Law Partners in Denver,” the server announced. “You are ordered to immediately cease all use of intellectual property, trademarks, and corporate financial instruments affiliated with Jessica Vance and Skyline Crest Holdings.”
The Director of Hospitality looked at the two police officers, then back at Stephanie.
“Miss Vance, you have fifteen minutes to pack your personal belongings and vacate the premises,” the Director said firmly. “If the eleven thousand eight hundred dollar balance is not paid in full using a valid personal credit card or certified funds before you reach the lobby, these officers will process an immediate arrest for felony defrauding of an innkeeper.”
Stephanie’s phone buzzed violently in her hand.
A notification flashed on her screen: YOUR INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT HAS BEEN SUSPENDED DUE TO MULTIPLE VERIFIED REPORTS OF TRADEMARK FRAUD AND MISREPRESENTATION.
Her follower count, her sponsored brand deals, her curated illusion of infinite wealth—everything had evaporated in an instant.
“My bags... my clothes...” Stephanie stammered, tears of sheer panic ruining her heavy foundation.
“Fifteen minutes, Miss Vance,” the lead officer said, tapping his watch. “Start packing.”
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Half an hour later, Stephanie sat on the hot concrete curb outside the resort’s delivery dock, surrounded by three cheap duffel bags, clutching her dead smartphone in her hands. The scorching desert heat beat down on her, offering no mercy, no glamour, and no escape.
The parasitic empire the Vance family had tried to build on my shoulders had officially been wiped from the map.
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