haven

Chapter 6 - The Mother’s Hollow Defense

================================================================================

Before Brian could scream for his brother, my hand shot forward like striking iron.

I gripped his throat, cutting off his airway with surgical precision, drove him backward against the brick garage wall, and levered his right arm into a hyper-extended joint lock. Brian let out a muffled, agonizing gasp as his knees buckled under the sheer, immovable force of my grip.

"One sound," I whispered against his ear, "and I will break this arm in three places. Nod if you understand."

Brian nodded frantically, tears of sheer terror streaming down his beet-red face. The arrogant bully who had pinned down an eight-year-old boy was now shivering like a wet dog.

I secured his wrists with heavy tactical zip-ties, shoved him through the unlocked side door of the main house, and pushed him into the brightly lit formal living room.

The room erupted in chaos.

Arthur leaped up from his leather recliner, spilling his Scotch. Scott jumped to his feet, knocking a glass coffee table askew. Christine shrieked, backing into the corner of the room.

"Logan?!" Arthur roared, his face contorting in fury. "Have you lost your mind?! You break into my home and assault my son?!"

I shoved Brian onto the carpet at Arthur’s feet. Then I walked over to Christine.

She stared at me, her chest heaving, clutching her cashmere cardigan with trembling hands.

"Logan... please," Christine cried, tears running down her cheeks. "It was an accident! Dad was just trying to get Jake to sign the conservatorship papers! We were going to use the trust money to save the family business, and then we’d give it all back to Jake when he turned eighteen!"

"You watched your father smash our son’s skull onto concrete, Christine," I said, my voice dead, quiet, and completely devoid of emotion.

"I tried to stop them!" she screamed, her voice cracking into hysterical self-defense. "What was I supposed to do?! Dad controls the money! He threatened to cut me out of the will! He said if we didn't get the trust deeds, we'd lose the house!"

"You traded your son's safety for a house," I replied, looking directly into her eyes. "You called me eight times from this room, not to ask if Jake was alive, but to make sure I hadn't gone to the police."

Arthur stepped forward, puffing out his chest, attempting to summon thirty years of dynastic authority.

"That is enough!" Arthur bellowed, pointing a shaking finger at my chest. "You are an ungrateful nobody who married into this family! I built this town! I own the local judges, I own the precinct commander, and I own every commercial contractor in this county! You will take your child, you will sign that trust transfer tomorrow morning, or I will have you buried so deep in litigation you will never see the light of day!"

I looked at the clock on the mantelpiece. It was precisely 11:59 PM.

May you like

"You don't own the people who are coming through that gate, Arthur," I said softly.

================================================================================

Related Stories

Other posts