“I thought it would be stock certificates,” Vanessa sneered, her perfect composure finally cracking. “But it’s a burn book. He didn’t just steal from the Russians, Eleanor. He’s been stealing from the employee pension fund for five years. My pension. Everyone’s pension.”
I felt the air leave my lungs. Embezzling corporate profits was a white-collar crime; stealing the pensions of hundreds of hardworking people was a destruction of lives.
“Shut up!” Richard screamed, pointing the gun at Vanessa now. “Both of you, shut up! I built that company! You were just the wallet, Eleanor, and you were just the face, Vanessa! I was the brains!”
“You’re a parasite,” I said, my voice dangerously low. “You’ve never built a thing in your life. You only know how to feed.”
Richard’s face contorted in rage. He raised the gun, aiming it squarely at my head. “Wire the money, Eleanor. Now. Or I put a bullet in you and tell the Russians Vanessa did it.”
Before I could reach for my phone, a small, terrified voice broke the tension.
“Daddy?”
We all froze. Leo was standing in the doorway of the closet, clutching his toy sailboat, tears streaming down his face. Maya rushed out behind him, grabbing him desperately.
Richard stared at his son. For one second, I thought I saw a flicker of humanity in his eyes, a momentary realization of the monster he had become. But then, his grip tightened on the gun.
“Get him out of here, Maya,” Richard snapped coldly. “Before he sees something messy.”
That was the breaking point. Maya didn’t shrink back. She didn’t cower. She stood up, her face hardening into stone.
“You’re dead to us,” she said.
Before Richard could react, the screech of tires echoed from the driveway. Heavy doors slammed. Gruff voices shouted in Russian. The Volkov syndicate had arrived.
Richard panicked. He grabbed the duffel bag of cash, completely ignoring us, and bolted for the glass sliding doors leading to the balcony.
“He’s going for the cliffside stairs!” Vanessa yelled.
Richard brisa la vitre avec la crosse de son fusil et s’enfuit dans l’obscurité. Je courus vers la porte défoncée, le regard baissé. Mais je ne voyais pas Richard s’enfuir.
Je contemplais la Rolex en or que je lui avais offerte pour notre anniversaire, posée sur la terrasse. À côté, une empreinte de pas ensanglantée menait non pas à l’escalier, mais vers le garage.
Il simulait sa fuite. Et il avait pris les clés de voiture de Vanessa.
