Chapter 8 - The Confrontation in the Clouds
Two minutes later, the double glass doors of the executive conference room swung open.
Beatrice burst in first, her face flushed red, followed closely by Caleb and Maya. The three of them stopped dead in their tracks as they took in the sheer luxury of the room—the floor-to-ceiling windows, the polished mahogany table, the team of four high-priced attorneys sitting in tailored suits.
And at the head of the table, sitting in an executive leather chair, was me.
"Sarah!" Beatrice gasped, putting a hand over her heart as if she were a long-suffering mother finally reuniting with a lost child. "Oh, thank God! Sarah, darling, we’ve been trying to reach you for two days!"
She took three rapid steps toward me, her arms outstretched for a hug.
"Step back, Mrs. Sterling," Thomas Miller said, his voice dropping like an iron door as he stood up from his chair. "Take one more step toward my client and security will remove you physically."
Beatrice stopped, looking stunned, before turning her eyes onto me, swimming with fake tears.
"Sarah... please," Beatrice whimpered, her voice trembling with manufactured emotion. "It’s your mother. Look at what these lawyers are doing to our family! They’re putting stories in the news! They’re ruining Caleb’s career! Maya lost her job! People are harassing us at our house!"
"You ruined my career, Sarah!" Caleb yelled, stepping past Beatrice, his face contorted in rage. "You knew! You sat there in that stupid hoodie knowing you were selling your company for three hundred million dollars, and you let us look like idiots on the internet! You set us up!"
I didn't stand up. I didn't raise my voice. I leaned back in my chair, holding my tea cup with both hands, watching them like a scientist studying specimens under a microscope.
"I didn't set you up, Caleb," I said quietly. My voice echoed softly in the silent, grand room. "I invited you all to brunch because I wanted to tell you the news in person. I was going to pay off Mom’s house. I was going to buy you a house, Caleb. I was going to fund Maya’s business."
Maya gasped softly, covering her mouth as a fresh wave of genuine tears burst from her eyes. "What...?"
"It’s true," I continued, looking directly at Beatrice. "I had three certified bank checks sitting in my bag at the Obsidian Resort on Saturday morning. One million dollars for each of you. A gesture to start fresh as a family."
Beatrice’s face drained of every drop of color. She looked as if she had been shot through the heart. "One... one million... each?"
"Yes," I said smoothly. "But before I could even order breakfast, Mom picked up a pot of boiling coffee and poured it over my head. And you two pulled out your phones, filmed my skin burning, and posted it online for clout."
"Sarah, I didn't mean it!" Beatrice cried out, dropping to her knees right there on the carpet, clutching her hands together in desperate plea. "I was stressed! The debts were piling up! I didn't know what I was doing! Forgive me, please! I'm your mother! I carried you for nine months!"
"You didn't see a daughter, Beatrice," I said, dropping the informal 'Mom' permanently. "You saw trash. You said it yourself on the terrace: 'That is exactly how trash gets treated.'"
I set my teacup down on the saucer with a soft, final clink.
"I am not trash," I said, my voice as hard as cold steel. "And you are no longer my family."
"Sarah, please!" Maya sobbed, falling to her knees beside Beatrice. "We’re broke! We have nothing left! They took Caleb’s car! I can't pay my rent!"
"You wanted content, Maya," I said, looking down at her. "Now you have a life story."
Before Beatrice could speak another word, the heavy wooden conference room doors clicked open again.
Four uniformed police officers stepped into the room, led by a precinct detective carrying a sheaf of folded papers.
"Beatrice Sterling?" the detective asked loudly.
Beatrice froze on her knees, turning her head slowly toward the door. "Y-yes?"
"You are under arrest for Felony Assault with a Deadly Weapon and Intentional Child Abuse," the detective stated clearly. "Caleb Sterling, Maya Sterling, you are under arrest as co-conspirators."
"No! No!" Caleb screamed, trying to back away toward the glass windows, but two officers grabbed his arms, forcing him around and clicking steel handcuffs onto his wrists. "You can't do this! Sarah, tell them to stop! Tell them!"
Maya shrieked as an officer cuffed her hands behind her back, her designer handbag tumbling onto the floor, spilling cheap lipstick and maxed-out credit cards across the carpet.
May you like
Beatrice wept hysterically as the detective pulled her to her feet, pinning her hands behind her back. "Sarah! Tell them it was a mistake! Tell them you forgive me! I’m your mother! SARAH!"
I sat quietly in my chair. I didn't look away. I watched every second as my mother, my brother, and my sister were marched out of the conference room in handcuffs, their desperate screams echoing down the marble hallway until the elevator doors closed, cutting off the noise forever.
