Chapter 4 - THE DESPERATE PLEA
Three days later,
I was sitting in a small,
quiet cafe near the courthouse when Douglas appeared at my table.
He looked terrible;
his expensive suit was wrinkled,
his hair was unwashed,
and the arrogance had been replaced by a hollow,
sunken look in his eyes.
He didn't sit down;
he just stood there,
clutching a cheap coffee cup like it was the only thing keeping him upright.
“Cora,
please,”
he whispered,
his voice barely audible over the hum of the city.
“Mom is staying in a motel;
she’s hysterical.”
“The bank froze her accounts too,
Cora.”
“We have nothing.”
I didn't look up from my tablet,
my fingers continuing to scroll through the morning’s shipping reports.
“You have exactly what you deserve,
Douglas.”
“You have the four hundred thousand dollars you stole from me,
at least until the court seizes the Florida property.”
He flinched as if I had struck him,
his eyes darting around to see if anyone was listening.
“I only did it because she was worried about her retirement!”
he tried to explain,
the same old excuses falling from his lips like rotten fruit.
“She said you were so successful that you’d never even notice.”
“She said it was family money.”
I finally looked up,
my gaze so cold it seemed to freeze the air between us.
“Family money is earned together,
Douglas.”
“Theft is something else entirely.”
“Did you think I wouldn't find out?”
“Did you think I was so blinded by my love for you that I would let you bankrupt my company for your mother’s vanity?”
He reached out to touch my hand,
but I pulled it back,
the revulsion I felt for him finally manifesting as a physical shudder.
“Cora,
I love you,”
he said,
the words sounding like a lie even as they left his mouth.
“I’ll do anything.
I’ll testify against her.
I’ll tell them it was all her idea.”
The cowardice was the final straw,
the ultimate proof that there was nothing left to save.
He was willing to throw his own mother under the bus the moment his comfort was threatened.
They were two of a kind,
predators who turned on each other as soon as the prey fought back.
“Go home,
Douglas,”
I said,
standing up and smoothing my skirt.
“Or whatever motel you’re calling home today.”
“My lawyers will be in touch.”
As I walked away,
I heard him sob,
a loud,
ugly sound that drew the attention of everyone in the cafe.
I didn't turn back.
I had spent too many years looking behind me,
waiting for him to be the man I needed him to be.
May you like
Now,
I was only looking forward.
