Chapter 4
The Greyhound bus arrived in Boston late Friday night,
dropping its exhausted passengers onto the wet concrete.
My private investigator sent me a blurry photograph,
showing Aaron and Brittany standing on the dirty sidewalk.
Brittany was crying loudly,
holding a single cheap suitcase with a broken wheel.
Her designer luggage had been seized by the hotel in Paris,
held directly as collateral for their massive unpaid bill.
Aaron looked completely destroyed,
his custom tuxedo replaced by wrinkled, cheap sweatpants.
He was trying to hail a taxi,
but none of the drivers wanted to pick them up in that area.
I looked at the photograph on my computer screen,
feeling absolutely nothing but cold, hard satisfaction.
They had to walk three miles to a cheap motel,
the only place that would accept their maxed-out debit card.
Saturday morning,
Aaron tried to go to the Gallagher Imports main office.
He thought he could still salvage his fake partnership,
or at least retrieve his personal belongings from the desk.
But when he arrived at the massive warehouse district,
he found the gates padlocked with heavy steel chains.
A large sign was plastered across the glass doors,
declaring the property seized by federal bank investigators.
My investigator reported that Aaron stood there for an hour,
staring at the chains like a man waking up from a nightmare.
He tried to call Vincent again,
but Vincent was currently sitting in a cold holding cell downtown.
Desperation finally broke my son's massive ego,
and he realized he had nowhere else to turn.
At exactly two in the afternoon,
I saw him walking up our familiar suburban driveway.
He looked terrible,
unshaven, pale, and shivering in the crisp autumn wind.
I walked out the front door,
closing it firmly behind me so Diane would not hear him.
I stood on the porch,
crossing my arms and looking down at him.
Dad,
he choked out,
tears welling up in his bloodshot eyes.
Please let me in,
I have nowhere else to go.
I did not move a single inch,
my expression as hard as solid granite.
You do not live here anymore,
I stated clearly,
my voice echoing slightly in the quiet neighborhood.
Brittany left me,
he sobbed,
wiping his nose on his dirty sleeve.
She packed her bag this morning and went to her aunt's house,
she said she refuses to be married to a broke criminal.
I felt a brief flash of dark amusement,
knowing their shallow marriage had lasted exactly six days.
That sounds like a personal problem, Aaron,
I said coldly,
and it has nothing to do with me or your mother.
You cannot just abandon me,
he yelled,
his sadness quickly turning into desperate, frantic anger.
I am your son,
you have to help me fix this mess.
You abandoned us first,
I reminded him harshly,
when you drugged your mother and stole our home.
I didn't mean to hurt her,
he pleaded,
Vincent said it was just a technicality on paper.
I stepped forward,
my anger flaring up like a sudden, violent fire.
You laughed,
I shouted,
my voice cracking with absolute fury.
You laughed when your wife pushed your mother into the mud,
in front of three hundred people who were supposed to be our friends.
Aaron flinched,
stepping back as if I had physically struck him.
I didn't know what to do,
he stammered weakly,
I didn't want to embarrass Brittany in front of her family.
So you embarrassed your mother instead,
I growled,
and you sold our memories for a fake promotion.
You made your choice, Aaron,
and now you get to live with the devastating consequences.
I pulled a single envelope from my pocket,
and threw it down onto the concrete steps.
There is a bus ticket to Chicago inside,
I told him,
and exactly one thousand dollars in cash.
That is the last thing you will ever receive from me,
and if you ever come back here, I will have you arrested.
Aaron stared at the white envelope,
his shoulders shaking with deep, heavy sobs.
I turned around,
opened the front door,
and locked it securely behind me.
I walked into the kitchen,
where Diane was waiting with a small, sad smile.
Is he gone,
she asked quietly.
Yes,
I replied, wrapping my arms around her.
May you like
He is gone,
and he is never coming back to hurt us again.
