“She betrayed me!”
“Count,” I commanded.
I brought the hammer down on the floorboards next to his head. CRACK.
“One.”
I hit the chair leg. CRACK.
“Two.”
I didn’t hit him. I destroyed the world around him, inch by inch, just to let him feel the powerlessness.
Finally, Grant and Ian returned from outside. They saw me standing over their broken father. They saw the FBI alerts flooding Dominic’s phone I had thrown on the floor.
“It’s over,” I said. “The money is gone. The evidence is public. You have nothing.”
I walked out into the snow as the police lights crested the hill. I didn’t run. I just walked away, leaving them to the law.
———–
Three days later, I stood in the hospital room. Tessa’s eyes were open.
“They’re gone,” I told her softly. “All of them. Victor is in prison. The brothers are facing life.”
“And…?” she whispered, her eyes searching.
