Chapter 3 - The Family Intervention
I stared at the red folder the terrified lawyer had just handed to me.
The documents inside detailed a massive embezzlement scheme orchestrated by Marcus.
He had completely drained our parents' retirement accounts and secretly taken out second mortgages on their property.
My phone buzzed with a text message from my mother.
"We are coming over right now to discuss your behavior at the barbecue," she wrote.
Twenty minutes later, my mother and father walked into my small apartment.
They looked around at my thrift-store furniture with obvious disgust.
"Marcus called us this morning in tears, Elena," my mother said angrily.
"He said you sent him unhinged, threatening emails last night," my father added.
I stood by the kitchen counter with the red folder resting under my hands.
"Did Marcus tell you what the emails were actually about?" I asked them.
"He said you are jealous of his success and you are trying to extort money from him," my mother scoffed.
"You need to call your brother right now and apologize for being so bitter," my father demanded.
I slowly opened the red folder and slid the bank statements across the table.
"Marcus is broke, Dad," I said quietly.
"He has not paid a mortgage on his big house in eight months," I explained.
My parents stared at the papers, their faces completely unreadable.
"And worse than that, he has completely drained both of your retirement funds to cover his bad stock trades," I revealed.
I expected my parents to gasp, cry, or scream in betrayal.
Instead, my father casually pushed the papers back toward me.
"We already know about the money, Elena," my father said flatly.
I felt a sudden, sickening drop in my stomach.
"You know he stole your life savings?" I asked in shock.
"He did not steal it, we gave it to him to save his image," my mother corrected me.
"Marcus is an important man, and he cannot be seen failing in front of his peers," she rationalized.
"You let him take your money, but you let him humiliate my son over a hamburger?" I asked, my voice shaking with rage.
"Daniel needs to learn that life is hard for people who do not achieve greatness," my father said cruelly.
"We came here to tell you that we helped Marcus file the custody papers to take Daniel away from you," my mother announced.
"Marcus needs a son to complete his public family image, and you are clearly unfit to raise a boy," she smiled.
I looked at the two people who raised me and realized they were total monsters.
"You will never touch my son," I whispered fiercely.
May you like
"We already have," my father smirked.
"Marcus just picked Daniel up from school early, and he is not bringing him back."
