Chapter 5 - THE SAPPHIRE CUFFLINKS
Celeste sank into the leather guest chair, staring blankly at her shattered phone on the floor. The reality of her family’s destruction was finally crushing the air from her lungs.
I didn't offer her water. I didn't offer her comfort. I walked back behind my desk and sat down.
“The FBI has been building a case against Monroe Holdings for two years,” I told her quietly. “They just needed the internal server logs to prove the embezzlement. Logs I happily provided an hour ago when I ordered the audit. Your father is going to federal prison, Celeste.”
“My mother,” Celeste choked out, tears finally spilling over her mascara-lined eyes. “What did they do to my mother?”
Before I could answer, my private office line rang. I pressed the speaker button.
“Sir,” my head of security said urgently. “There is an issue at the Monroe estate. The FBI detained Charles Monroe, but Vivian Monroe slipped out the back gates before they locked down the perimeter.”
I frowned. Vivian was the true architect of the Monroe family’s social standing. She was ruthless, terrifyingly calm, and far smarter than her husband.
“Where is she?” I demanded.
“We just pulled the traffic camera footage,” security replied. “She’s not running to the airport, sir. She’s in a black town car, and she’s heading to the community center in the South Ward.”
My heart stopped.
The South Ward community center was built on the exact site of the tenement building that had burned down twenty-five years ago. I had quietly funded its construction, and my mother volunteered there every Tuesday and Thursday morning.
I glanced at the clock. It was 6:00 AM. My mother had left the penthouse an hour ago to open the center for the early morning breakfast program.
“Get a car ready now,” I ordered, sprinting out from behind the desk.
I didn't look back at Celeste as I left her sobbing in my study. I rode the elevator down to the underground garage, my pulse pounding a frantic rhythm against my ribs. Vivian wasn't running from the FBI. She was going after the one piece of leverage she thought could stop me.
My driver pushed the Maybach to its absolute limits, weaving through the early morning city traffic. The South Ward was a stark contrast to the glittering skyline of my penthouse. Here, the buildings were older, the streets rougher, but it was the community that had raised me.
We pulled up to the community center—a beautiful, modern brick building with large glass windows.
I jumped out before the car fully stopped and ran through the front doors.
The main hall was empty, but I heard voices coming from the small administrative office in the back. I approached quietly, signaling for my security detail to wait in the hall.
Through the cracked door, I saw my mother standing behind her modest desk. She wasn't cowering. She stood perfectly still, her hands resting calmly on the wooden surface.
Sitting in the chair opposite her was Vivian Monroe.
Vivian looked immaculate, even as a fugitive. She wore a tailored charcoal suit, her silver hair perfectly styled. But there was a desperate, manic edge to her usually composed face.
“Your son thinks he has won, Elena,” Vivian said, her voice dripping with venom. “He thinks turning my husband over to the feds will erase what we did to you. But Charles is a fool. He always was the weak link.”
“Then why are you here, Vivian?” my mother asked, her voice completely steady. “If Charles is the fool, why run to me?”
Vivian reached into her expensive leather purse. She didn't pull out a weapon. She pulled out a small, worn velvet box. She placed it on the desk and flicked it open.
Inside rested a pair of heavy, silver cufflinks set with deep blue sapphires.
I froze. I recognized them instantly from old photographs. They belonged to my father.
“You’ve spent twenty-five years playing the tragic widow,” Vivian sneered. “Telling Adrian his father died a hero in that fire, fighting against the corrupt developers. But that’s a lie, isn't it, Elena?”
My mother’s eyes locked onto the cufflinks, but she didn't speak.
“Your husband didn't refuse to sell the building,” Vivian continued, leaning forward with a cruel smile. “He took a bribe. Fifty thousand dollars in cash and these sapphire cufflinks as a down payment. He sold out the tenants, Elena. He set the fire himself to clear the building for us, but the idiot got trapped in his own arson.”
I felt the breath knock out of my lungs. My father? An arsonist? A traitor?
“Adrian is destroying my family to avenge a martyr who was actually on my payroll,” Vivian laughed darkly. “Call your son right now. Tell him to drop the FBI investigation, or I will release the original bank receipts proving your husband took the bribe. I will destroy his memory, and I will destroy Adrian’s pristine reputation.”
I placed my hand on the door, ready to storm in and throw Vivian to the street.
May you like
But my mother spoke first.
“You are very good at lying, Vivian,” Elena said softly. She reached out and picked up one of the sapphire cufflinks, holding it up to the harsh fluorescent light. “But you never were very good at paying attention to details.”
