Chapter 3 - THE COST OF ARROGANCE
The room was a testament to excess,
with a bed that cost more than Richard’s house and windows that looked out over the entire valley.
Emily was on the floor,
huddled in a corner,
her hand clutching a bruised jaw,
her Easter dress torn at the shoulder.
Ethan stood over her,
holding a glass of expensive scotch,
looking like a king who had just finished disciplining a servant.
When the door burst open,
Ethan spun around,
his face turning from a snarl of rage to a mask of utter confusion.
"What the hell is this?"
Ethan demanded,
trying to regain his composure as he saw his father-in-law standing there in a full military uniform.
"Richard?
Are you insane?"
"You can't just break into my house!"
Richard didn't look at Ethan at first;
he walked straight to Emily,
ignoring the man in the middle of the room as if he were nothing more than a piece of furniture.
He knelt beside his daughter,
his hands,
which had handled explosives and maps,
now becoming infinitely gentle as he lifted her chin.
"Is anything broken,
Sweetheart?"
he asked,
his voice a soft contrast to the fury in his heart.
Emily looked at him,
her eyes wide with shock,
seeing the Colonel she hadn't seen since she was a little girl.
"Dad...
you're here,"
she whispered,
a sob breaking through her chest.
"He wouldn't let me leave."
Richard stood up slowly,
his joints popping in the silence of the room,
and turned to face Ethan.
Ethan laughed,
a hollow,
nervous sound as he took a sip of his drink.
"Look at you,
playing soldier,"
Ethan sneered,
trying to use his height and his expensive suit to intimidate the older man.
"Do you have any idea who I am?"
"I own the local police department through my donations."
"I have lawyers who can bury you in a mountain of lawsuits before the sun goes down."
"You’re a trespasser,
Richard."
"Leave now,
and maybe I won't have you arrested."
Richard took a step forward,
his shadow falling across Ethan’s face.
"You think your money makes you untouchable,"
Richard said,
his voice like grinding stones.
"You think that because you can buy a name on a building,
you understand power."
"But you've forgotten one thing,
Ethan."
"I didn't come here to sue you."
"And I didn't come here to talk."
Ethan’s smirk faltered as he saw the lack of hesitation in Richard’s eyes.
He reached for the phone on the nightstand,
intending to call his security team,
but Richard was faster.
He didn't strike with a fist;
he used a tactical wrist-lock that he had taught to Green Berets in the nineties.
With a sickening pop,
the phone fell to the floor,
and Ethan was forced to his knees,
his face contorted in a scream of pain that Emily had heard far too often.
"This is the first lesson of the day,"
Richard whispered in Ethan’s ear,
his grip as unyielding as a steel vice.
May you like
"When a commander enters the field,
the civilians shut their mouths."
