Chapter 10 - Blood and Dust
When the security team pushed Richard into the conference room, he looked like a ghost that had clawed its way out of an unmarked grave.
His expensive Italian suit was rumpled, mud-splattered, and torn at the sleeve. His face was gray, with dark purple bags under his bloodshot eyes. He smelled of cheap motel soap and stale sweat. Two burly Apex security guards kept their hands hovering near their belts as they shoved him into an empty leather armchair across from me.
Richard sat down heavily, his hands shaking so violently he had to interlock his fingers to stop the tremors. He looked at me, sitting behind the polished desk in my tailored navy suit, looking every bit the apex predator he had spent his whole life underestimating.
"Emily..." Richard rasped, his voice cracking. "You have to help me. You have to call off Vance’s men."
"Why would I help you, Richard?" I asked, leaning back, my voice dripping with calm detachment. "Twelve hours ago, you were standing in that mansion telling me I destroyed your life. You watched our seventy-two-year-old mother wash your wife's feet, and you didn't bat an eye. You forged her signature to sell our father's land to a loan shark. You gave up your right to call me your sister a long time ago."
Richard dropped to his knees right there in front of the desk, echoing the humiliation he had inflicted on Mom, though his tears carried no dignity—only the rank cowardice of a cornered thief.
"I didn't know!" Richard sobbed, beating his chest. "I swear to God, Emily, I didn't know Vanguard Trust belonged to Julian Vance! When the deal went south, Vance's men came to my office. They broke my ribs, Emily! Look!"
He yanked open his shirt, revealing a massive, mottled purple and yellow contusion stretching across his ribcage.
"They told me if I didn't get Mom to sign over the full mineral rights and the deed to the upstate property, they would kill me," Richard wept, snot and tears dripping onto the expensive Persian rug. "I was terrified! Vanessa kept spending money, the creditors were freezing my cards... I had to survive! That’s why Vanessa made Mom do chores—she was punishing her because Mom refused to sign the mineral documents! Mom hid the original deed, Emily! She hid it somewhere, and Vance wants it!"
I stared at him, disgust curdling in my stomach. So that was why. Vanessa hadn’t just been indulging her sadistic vanity; they had been actively torturing our mother, trying to break her will so she would surrender the deed to Vance's predators.
"Where is Vanessa now?" I asked coldly.
Richard choked back a sob. "She took my car this morning while I was in the motel lobby. She stole my watch, my passport, and the last fifty thousand dollars in cash I had hidden in the spare tire. She fled back to her parents' country estate. She abandoned me, Emily! Just like you did!"
"I didn't abandon you, Richard," I said, rising from my chair and walking slowly toward him. I looked down at his trembling form. "You abandoned yourself the moment you treated human dignity like a currency to be traded. You sold Dad's legacy. You sold Mom's safety."
"Please," Richard begged, clutching at the cuffs of my slacks. "Vance gave me until noon today. If I don't deliver the original deed to the upstate property, he said he’s sending someone to finish the job. He knows Mom is with you. He’s coming for her, Emily!"
Just then, the conference room doors swung open.
Mom stood in the doorway, supported by a polished mahogany walking cane. She wore a simple, elegant dark green dress I had bought for her that morning. Her silver hair was neatly pinned back. She looked frail, but her eyes were clear, steady, and blazing with a quiet fire that Richard had never seen in his entire life.
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"Mom..." Richard gasped, his voice cracking as he looked up at her from the floor. "Mom, forgive me... please, tell Emily to give him the deed! Save my life, Mom! You're my mother!"
Mom walked slowly into the room, the sharp *click* of her cane echoing off the glass walls. She stopped two feet from where her son was groveling in the dust.
