Charles leaned heavily on his cane, his eyes squinting at the screen.

“And the reality?” Charles asked.

“The reality is here,” Marcus said, pointing to the second set of files.

“The tenants paid their rent in full, mostly in cash or money orders.”

“Dunleavy pocketed eighty percent of the maintenance budget.”

“He let the plumbing rot, the roofs leak, and the boilers fail on purpose.”

Ruby looked up at me, her brow furrowed in confusion.

“Mom,” she whispered, “is that why our heater never worked in the winter?”

“Yes, baby,” I whispered back, my throat dry. “That is why.”

Marcus scrolled down to a new folder labeled *Project Cleansweep*.

“It gets worse,” Marcus said.

“Over the last three years, Dunleavy manufactured fake eviction notices.”

“He targeted the elderly and the single parents first.”

“He claimed they violated lease terms that didn’t exist, forcing them out.”

Nathaniel crossed his arms, his jaw tight.

“Why?” Nathaniel asked. “What was the end game?”

Marcus opened a digital blueprint on the screen.

It showed the Brindlewood Apartments site, but the brick buildings were gone.