Chapter 6 - THE ENGRAVING IN THE GOLD
I reached into the inner breast pocket of my tuxedo.
My fingers brushed against the heavy, antique gold pocket watch my grandfather had left me.
I wore it to every major event in my life. It was a good luck charm. A piece of family history I actually believed in.
I pulled it out.
The gold felt heavy and warm in my palm.
“What did you do to it, Elena?” I asked softly.
Elena looked nervously at my mother, then back to me.
“Catalina didn’t just call to speak to the children last night, Mr. Reyes.”
My heart hammered against my ribs.
“She called to speak to me?”
“No,” Elena said. “She called to ask me for a favor. She knew today was the wedding. She knew time was running out.”
I pressed the small button on the top of the watch.
The gold lid popped open.
Normally, the inside of the lid bore a simple engraving: To my son, with pride.
But the smooth gold had been brutally scratched over.
Someone had used a sharp needle or a pin to carve new letters directly over the old ones.
It was messy. It was frantic.
But I could read it clearly.
114 Oceanview Motel. Room 8. Come alone.
I stared at the address.
Oceanview Motel was a rundown, forgotten strip of rooms on the very edge of the city limits. It was an hour drive from the hotel.
“She is waiting for you, Daniel,” Elena whispered.
I snapped the watch closed.
I looked down at Lucas and Mia.
“Are you ready to go get your mother?” I asked them.
Mia’s face lit up like the sun. She squeezed my hand tightly.
Lucas stood a little taller, nodding bravely.
I turned to walk down the aisle.
My mother stepped directly into my path.
Her face was twisted into an ugly, desperate mask of control.
“If you walk out those doors, Daniel, you are finished,” Beatrice hissed.
“Move, Mother.”
“I mean it!” she raised her voice, letting the remaining guests hear her. “I control the board! I control the trust! If you leave this wedding to chase that worthless girl, I will freeze every bank account you have. I will take the house. I will take the cars. You will have absolutely nothing!”
She pointed a perfectly manicured finger at my chest.
“You will be exactly what she is. Trash.”
I looked at the woman who had ruined my life to save a bank account.
I reached into my back pocket.
I pulled out my leather wallet.
Inside were platinum credit cards, black cards, IDs tied to a corporate empire built on a foundation of lies.
I didn’t say a word.
I simply tossed the wallet onto the polished marble floor at my mother’s feet.
It landed with a heavy, dull thud.
Then, I reached up and untied my silk bowtie, pulling it from my neck and dropping it beside the wallet.
“Keep it,” I said.
My mother stared at the wallet, her mouth slightly open in shock.
I took Mia’s hand in my left, and Lucas’s hand in my right.
“Let’s go home, kids,” I said.
We walked down the aisle together.
Nobody tried to stop us.
When we reached the massive oak doors, Elena was waiting.
She had already grabbed the children’s winter coats from the coat check.
She handed them to me, her eyes shining with tears of relief.
“Go get her, Mr. Reyes,” Elena smiled.
We walked out into the cold afternoon air, leaving the billionaire legacy behind in the ballroom.
We got into my car, and I put the address into the GPS.
An hour later, we pulled into the gravel parking lot of the Oceanview Motel.
The neon sign buzzed loudly, flickering against the grey sky.
I parked the car and told the kids to wait inside with the doors locked.
I walked up to the peeling green door of Room 8.
My hands were shaking as I raised my fist.
I knocked three times.
I waited to see the face of the woman I hadn’t seen in three years.
The deadbolt clicked open.
The door swung inward.
May you like
But it wasn’t Catalina standing in the doorway.
It was a tall, broad-shouldered man in a cheap suit, holding a stack of legal files and a worn winter coat.
