“You think you can do this?” I asked Richard, my voice dropping to a low, dangerous whisper as I carefully compressed my white-hot, explosive rage into a single, cold, hard block of ice in my chest. “You think you can beat my daughter half to death and just get away with it?”
Richard took a slow, deliberate sip of his Scotch. He smiled. It was the smile of a man who believed, with absolute, unshakeable certainty, that he was entirely untouchable.
“Get away with it?” Richard smirked, walking closer. “Arthur, let me explain how the world works to a simple, retired old man like you. My grandfather built this town. My family owns half the businesses on Main Street.”
He paused, leaning in slightly, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial, mocking tone.
“The local Chief of Police,” Richard continued, “is currently enjoying a barbecue in my backyard. I donate heavily to his reelection campaign. His son is on a full scholarship to a university, courtesy of a ‘charitable grant’ from my family’s foundation.”
He stood up straight, his chest puffed out with arrogant, sociopathic pride.
“So, go ahead, Arthur,” Richard sneered. “Call the cops. Let’s see if they put handcuffs on me, or if they put handcuffs on you for trespassing on my private property and assaulting my mother.”
I looked into his cold, dead eyes.
He was right.
Conventional law, the kind of law that served the wealthy and powerful, would not protect my daughter here. The system in this town was rigged, bought and paid for by the Vance family fortune. They had built a fortress of corruption around themselves.
So, I wouldn’t use conventional law. I would use my own.
I carefully, gently scooped Lily’s limp, broken body into my arms. I stood up, cradling her as if she were a small child again.
“You are going to deeply, profoundly regret what you just said,” I whispered to Richard, my voice devoid of any anger, filled only with a terrifying, absolute finality.
I turned my back on them and walked out the front doors, leaving Richard laughing hysterically behind me.
He didn’t know that the moment I stepped out of the gilded gates of his estate, my trembling fingers were already dialing a heavily encrypted, barcode-sequenced number on a satellite phone I hadn’t used in fifteen years.