Chapter 4 - The Iron Cage
"I don't need to prove it, Vanessa. The federal banking regulators have already flagged the transaction under the Patriot Act," I said, leaning in close enough to see the sweat breaking out along her hairline.
"You didn't just abandon two children at an international airport. You committed interstate wire fraud, grand larceny, and child endangerment on federal property. That carries a minimum sentence of twenty-five years in a maximum-security facility."
"Please," she whimpered, her designer bag slipping from her shoulder and hitting the floor with a heavy thud. "Ryker, please. We move in the same circles. Think of the reputation of the family name. Let me just take them to an orphanage. I'll sign over the trust to you!"
"You won't be signing anything over, because your signing rights were revoked ten minutes ago," I replied, stepping back and nodding to the federal marshals. "Take her out of my terminal. The sight of her is offending my kids."
"Ryker! You can't do this!" Vanessa screamed as the marshals violently pulled her arms behind her back, the sharp, metallic click of the steel handcuffs locking around her wrists echoing across Gate 17. "They aren't your blood! You're a monster!"
I watched calmly as she was dragged down the concourse, her shrill, pathetic cries fading into the ambient noise of the airport until she was entirely gone.
May you like
I turned back to the row of black seats. Lily and Owen were watching me, their small faces completely still. They hadn't flinched during the entire confrontation. They had seen the monster of the Chicago underworld break a woman with a few words, yet when I walked back to them, Lily reached out and slid her tiny, warm hand right back into mine.
Children don't care about a man's reputation. They care about who stays when everyone else leaves.
