Terrence was breathing hard, his eyes wide with a hunger that had consumed him whole.
I felt the heat radiating from the motor against my cheek. My heart was already hammering against my ribs, a frantic rhythm of adrenaline and fear, but I knew I had to weaponize it.
Thorne’s words echoed in my mind, clear and commanding. Buy time, Booker. Play the victim. Don’t let him harm you before we have proof.
I looked into my son’s eyes and saw no recognition there, only the cold stare of a stranger who wanted something I possessed.
He shouted again, demanding the location of money that didn’t exist in that safe.
I knew if I stayed standing, he would use that drill. He was past the point of reason.
I let my eyelids flutter. I allowed my jaw to go slack. I reached up with a trembling hand and clutched at the fabric of my shirt right over my heart.
I forced the air out of my lungs in a ragged, wheezing gasp that sounded like a dying engine.
My knees buckled for real this time as I let gravity take me. I slid down the doorframe, my back scraping against the wood until I hit the floor with a heavy thud. I curled into myself, groaning low in my throat, my hand clawing at the carpet.
It wasn’t entirely acting. The stress, the grief, the sheer physical threat had spiked my blood pressure to dangerous levels. The room really was spinning.
Terrence stepped back, the drill still whirring in his hand, his expression shifting from aggression to sudden panic.
He wasn’t worried about losing his father. He was worried about losing the combination to the vault he thought existed.
He backed away, the tool winding down with a mechanical whine, leaving a ringing silence in the room broken only by my staged, desperate gasps for air.
Tiffany appeared in the doorway, her hair wild and her black funeral dress covered in white feathers from the decimated sofa.
She took one look at me writhing on the floor and dropped the box cutter she’d been using to destroy my furniture.
Her face went pale, not with concern, but with calculation.
“Don’t let him pass out,” she screeched, rushing forward and grabbing Terrence’s arm with a grip that looked painful. “If he goes now, we lose everything, Terrence. He’s the only one who knows where the assets are. If he’s gone, that money disappears into the system. Think, you fool.”
Terrence looked down at me, then at the drill in his hand. He cursed and tossed the tool onto the bed, where it landed on Esther’s Sunday hat.
He knelt beside me, grabbing my collar with both hands and shaking me violently.
“Wake up, old man!” he shouted, his spit flying onto my face. “You don’t get to go yet. Not until you tell me where the money is.”
He raised his hand and slapped me hard across the face. The sting was sharp and hot, but I kept my eyes half closed, focusing on my breathing, making it shallow and irregular. I let my head loll to the side.
I needed to give them a number. Big enough to blind them. Big enough to keep me alive.
I licked my dry lips and whispered, “The trust.”
Terrence froze. He leaned in closer, his ear almost touching my mouth.
“What trust? Say it again.”
“The trust fund,” I wheezed, forcing the words out between gasps. “Esther set it up. Two million dollars. The lawyer comes next week.”
I let my head fall back against the floorboards as if the effort of speaking had drained the last of my life force.
I watched through slit eyes as Terrence looked up at Tiffany. A slow, greedy smile spread across his face, erasing the panic.
“Two million,” he whispered, testing the weight of the words.
Two million. Enough to fix his gambling debts. Enough to buy Tiffany’s silence. Enough to fuel their delusions for a lifetime.
The threat vanished, replaced by the opportunist.
He didn’t see a dying father anymore. He saw a winning lottery ticket that needed to be kept safe until cash in day.
He grabbed me under the arms and hauled me up. He wasn’t gentle. He dragged me toward the bed, kicking Esther’s clothes out of the way. He threw me onto the mattress, my body bouncing on the springs.
He stood over me, panting, his eyes gleaming with feverish light.
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