Chapter 5 - Stranded in South Beach
The lobby of the Royal Palm Resort was bathed in bright, unforgiving morning light on January 1st.
While wealthy tourists strolled through in linen shirts and designer sunglasses, Eleanor, Chloe, Mark, Ethan, and Ethan’s wife Sarah were sitting on their heavy Rimowa luggage near the bell captain’s desk, guarded by three burly hotel security officers.
Their total unpaid bill stood at $8,940—including room charges, the midnight VIP table, and room service from the night before.
“Look, Chief,” Mark stammered to the hotel manager, his shirt rumpled and smelling of stale alcohol. “My brother-in-law had a technical issue with his corporate account. He’s a millionaire! He owns a engineering firm! He’ll settle this tomorrow!”
“Sir,” the manager replied coldly, adjusting his lapel pin. “We’ve contacted your brother-in-law’s firm. His legal counsel informed us that Mr. Vance has revoked all financial responsibility for your party and notified his bank that any charges made by your group after December 30th are fraudulent.”
“Fraudulent?!” Eleanor shrieked, her mink stole looking ridiculous in the 80-degree Miami heat. “I am his mother! He legally owes me!”
“If this bill is not settled in full within thirty minutes, we are turning all five of you over to the Miami-Dade Police Department for theft of services,” the manager said without an ounce of pity.
Ethan slammed his fist against his luggage. “Mark, you idiot! You said this was a free trip! I brought my kids down here because you swore your brother-in-law was funding everything!”
“Shut up, Ethan!” Chloe snapped, her face stained with ruined mascara. “David is just throwing a tantrum because his useless wife complained! He’ll calm down once we get back to New York!”
“How are we getting back to New York?!” Sarah, Ethan’s wife, yelled. “Our return flight tickets were bought on David’s card! They’ve been canceled!”
Desperate and facing imminent arrest, Eleanor pulled out her gold wedding band—a ring left to her by David’s late father—and two diamond bracelets. She slammed them onto the counter before the manager.
“Take these!” she cried, tears finally breaking through her heavy makeup. “Pawn them! Cover the bill! Just let us leave!”
The manager called over a hotel jeweler to appraise the items on the spot. They were accepted as collateral at a fraction of their value, barely covering the $8,900 debt.
Without a dollar left between them, stripped of their jewelry, and forced to carry their own heavy luggage under the blazing sun, the five of meandered to the Greyhound bus station—forced to buy five forty-eight-hour bus tickets north to New York using the last few hundred dollars Ethan had in his personal checking account.
During the agonizing two-day bus ride back, packed into cramped seats beside strangers, Eleanor stared out the window, her mind burning with hatred.
“When we get back to Brooklyn,” Eleanor whispered to Mark and Chloe, her voice venomous, “we go straight to his apartment. We take the spare key. Maya is probably back home by now. We’ll force David to sign a legal settlement, or I’ll go to his board of directors and claim he abandoned his aging mother!”
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“Yeah,” Mark growled, clutching his aching neck. “He thinks he’s a big man because he locked the cards. Let’s see how big he acts when we show up at his front door.”
They had no idea that back in Brooklyn, David hadn't spent a single second waiting for them.
