Chapter 6 - Eric’s Confession
Leaving Vanessa to stew in her panic, I walked down the sterile hallway toward Room B. Through the one-way glass, I watched my younger brother. Eric was slouched low in his chair, wringing his hands so tightly his knuckles were stark white. He had always been weak-willed, drifting through life from one failed business scheme to another, always expecting Dad to bail him out with a check and a reassuring pat on the back. But this wasn't an unpaid credit card or a bounced rent check. This was active, malicious betrayal.
I pushed the door open. The metallic click of the latch made Eric flinch as if he had been struck. When he saw me, tears welled in his red-rimmed eyes. ""Maya... God, Maya, I’m so sorry. You have to believe me, I never wanted her to hit him. I thought... I thought we were just going to get control of the trust so we could invest it.""
""Shut up,"" I said quietly, remaining standing by the closed door. I didn't want to sit near him. I didn't want to breathe the same air.
""Maya, please!"" Eric choked out, tears spilling down his cheeks. ""She had something on me! She knew about the money I took from my last employer’s petty cash! She told me if I didn't help her, she would report me to the police! She said Dad was old, that he didn't need that massive house anyway, that we could put him in a nice retirement resort where they have nurses to take care of him!""
""A retirement resort?"" I stepped closer, my voice vibrating with controlled fury. ""He has two cracked ribs, Eric! He spent six hours in a freezing emergency room wondering why the son he raised, the boy he taught to fish, the boy whose college tuition he paid with his life savings, stood in the hallway and watched a psychopath beat him with a piece of metal!""
Eric buried his face in his hands, sobbing openly. ""I froze! I was terrified of her! She threatened to leave me, she threatened to ruin me! When she hit him, Dad looked right at me, Maya... he looked at me and asked me to help him. And I just stood there. I hate myself. I swear to God I hate myself!""
""Hating yourself isn't going to fix his broken bones,"" I said ruthlessly. ""And it isn't going to keep you out of prison. Conspiracy to commit grand larceny, elder abuse resulting in severe bodily injury, and falsification of police records carry a minimum mandatory sentence in this state. Do you understand what that means, Eric? You're going to prison.""
Eric dropped to his knees right there on the cold linoleum, wrapping his arms around his knees, weeping like a broken child. ""Please, Maya. Don't let them take me. Tell Dad I'm sorry. Just let me see him. Let me beg him for forgiveness.""
May you like
""You will never see him again,"" I said, my voice hardening like tempered steel. ""I am filing a lifetime restraining order on his behalf tomorrow morning. You will surrender your keys, you will sign over any claim you have to his estate, and you will give a full sworn deposition against Vanessa for the federal prosecution. If you give the prosecutors everything, maybe you'll serve your time in a minimum-security camp instead of a federal penitentiary. That is the only mercy you are getting from me.""
I turned my back on him and walked out of the room, leaving his pathetic cries echoing against the concrete walls. Blood might make someone family, but loyalty, honor, and love make someone a daughter. And I was going to protect my father from every single person who dared to harm him, even if that person shared my last name.
