Chapter 9 - The Confrontation
"She's lost her mind," Robert whispered, reaching into his coat for his cell phone.
Before Robert could dial, Patricia lunged forward with a horrifying, feral screech, swinging the tire iron directly toward Ethan's shoulder to clear a path to me.
Ethan reacted with lightning speed. He didn't flinch. He didn't retreat. He caught the downward arc of the iron bar with his left forearm, the heavy metal slamming against his heavy winter coat with a sickening crunch. With his right hand, Ethan shoved Patricia backward with tremendous force, sending her crashing into the mahogany console table.
A priceless Ming-style vase shattered on the floor, exploding into ceramic shards.
"Get out!" Ethan roared, his voice shaking the crystal pendants of the chandelier above us. "Touch my wife again and I will tear your world to pieces!"
Patricia sprawled on the hardwood floor, surrounded by broken porcelain, panting heavily. The tire iron slipped from her bruised fingers, clattering across the floorboards. But instead of crying out in pain, she began to laugh—a high, shrill, broken cackle that made the hair on my arms stand on end.
"You think you’ve won, Ethan?" she wheezed, wiping a smear of blood from her cheek where a ceramic shard had grazed her skin. "Look around you! Look at this house! Look at your pathetic father! None of this belongs to you! Julian has already filed the paperwork!"
Marcus Vance stepped into the foyer from the study, holding a stack of freshly opened documents he had pulled from the open wall safe. His face was pale.
"Who is Julian, Patricia?" Marcus demanded coldly.
"Julian Vance," Robert said, his voice dropping into utter horror. "My estranged brother. The one my father disinherited thirty-five years ago for corporate embezzlement."
Patricia smiled—a grotesque, bloodstained grin of pure malice. "Julian bought Harold Bennett’s firm three months ago. And he holds a master deed on this entire property through a loan Robert forgot he signed in 1994. In forty-eight hours, Robert, this house is condemned for foreclosure. You will be penniless. Ethan will be broke. And the state will hand Lily over to me because none of you can afford to feed her!"
"You forged my father's signature on a mortgage?" Ethan shouted, taking a step toward her, but Robert placed a firm, steadying hand on his son's chest.
"Let her talk, Ethan," Robert said with unnatural calm.
Robert pulled a small, silver recorder from his pocket, the red recording light glowing brightly against the dim foyer light.
May you like
"Tell me more about the fraud, Patricia," Robert said smoothly. "The district attorney is going to find this fascinating."
Patricia’s smile vanished instantly. Her eyes darted to the recorder, the realization of what she had just confessed washing the color completely from her face.
