Chapter 4 - The Threat from the Past
The calm did not last. Two weeks later, a letter arrived at the mansion. It was delivered not by the mail, but by a courier who dropped it at the gate and disappeared.
Vane opened it in his study. It was a single sheet of paper with a photo clipped to it. It was a picture of their father, taken from inside Statesville prison. And below it, a handwritten note: They are still mine. I know where they are, Vane. Pay up, or I’ll burn your glass house down.
Vane felt a flash of cold rage. He had bought their freedom legally, but the law didn't mean much to a man like their father—a man who had sold his own children for drug money.
He went to find Emer. He found him in the gym, punching a heavy bag until his knuckles were raw.
"Emer," Vane said, waiting for the boy to stop.
Emer stopped, panting, sweat dripping down his face. "What?"
"Your father is trying to reach you."
Emer went still. The air in the room seemed to vanish. "He can't. You said he couldn't."
"He’s desperate. He thinks he can extort me. He thinks you're still the frightened children in the alley." Vane walked up to the heavy bag, his presence imposing. "I have two choices. I can pay him off to keep him quiet, or I can end the threat."
May you like
"End it," Emer said immediately. "He’s not a father. He’s a monster."
Vane nodded, a dark approval in his eyes. "That is the correct answer."
