Chapter 9 - The House of Cards Falls
I watched the television screen in absolute silence as the police standoff unfolded at my childhood home.
Dozens of heavily armed SWAT officers were crouched behind armored vehicles on the freezing front lawn.
The reporter stated that the suspect inside the house was refusing to surrender and had barricaded himself in the master bedroom.
I knew Derek was trapped like a rat, desperately clutching the gun my father had discovered.
My mother was standing on the sidewalk behind the police tape, wrapped in a blanket and weeping uncontrollably for the cameras.
She was playing the victim, pretending she had no idea her son was a violent, embezzling criminal.
Suddenly, a loud crack echoed through the television audio as a flashbang grenade was thrown through the front window.
The tactical team breached the front door, swarming into the freezing, furnace-less house.
Minutes later, the cameras captured Derek being dragged out of the front door in heavy steel handcuffs.
He was screaming curse words and thrashing wildly against the officers, looking completely pathetic and broken.
Sarah was escorted out shortly after, covering her face with her jacket to hide from the glaring news cameras.
I turned off the television, feeling an overwhelming sense of closure wash over my tired mind.
The toxic empire my mother and brother had tried to build on my back had completely collapsed into ashes.
I finally went to sleep that night without a single worry about property taxes, broken furnaces, or ungrateful family members.
The next morning, I was enjoying a quiet cup of coffee when an aggressive, frantic banging rattled my apartment door.
I checked the security peephole and saw my mother standing in the hallway, looking utterly disheveled and desperate.
She must have followed Sophie’s legal courier to discover my new, private address.
She pounded on the door again, screaming my name and demanding that I let her inside because she had nowhere else to go.
I didn't open the door, nor did I answer her frantic cries.
I simply watched through the peephole as the elevator doors at the end of the hallway chimed and opened.
My mother turned around, expecting to see a neighbor she could manipulate for sympathy.
May you like
Instead, two serious men wearing dark suits and FBI windbreakers stepped out of the elevator.
They walked directly up to my mother and informed her that she was under arrest for felony wire fraud and conspiracy.
