Chapter 6 - The Lobby Confrontation
I walked slowly to the floor-to-ceiling window of my office and looked down at the busy Chicago street.
My mother was standing on the corner, holding her cell phone to her ear and glaring up at the glass building.
She demanded that I come down to the lobby immediately and transfer her the forty thousand dollars I had frozen.
She threatened to march into the executive suites and tell my new boss that I was a thief and a liar.
I calmly told her that my boss already knew exactly who she was.
I hung up the phone and walked out to the elevator, ready to end her reign of terror permanently.
When I stepped into the grand marble lobby, my mother was screaming at the security guards.
She rushed toward me, raising her hand as if she was actually going to slap me in a public corporate building.
I caught her wrist in mid-air, squeezing it hard enough to make her gasp in shock.
I leaned in close and told her I had the video of Madison forging my signature for a quarter of a million dollars.
My mother's arrogant sneer completely collapsed into an expression of sheer, unfiltered panic.
I informed her that the police report had already been filed and the arrest warrants were being drafted.
She began to cry, but this time they were not manipulative tears; they were tears of genuine terror.
She begged me to drop the charges, swearing she would make my father pay back every single penny.
I let go of her wrist, turned my back on her, and signaled the security guards to escort her off the property.
I felt an overwhelming sense of victory as I watched her being dragged out through the revolving glass doors.
I took the elevator back up to my floor, ready to hand the final video file over to Julian.
I reached into my blazer pocket to grab my corporate access badge to unlock my office door.
My pocket was completely empty.
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I frantically searched my purse, realizing my mother had not tried to slap me in the lobby at all.
She had used the distraction to perfectly pickpocket my high-level security badge.
