Chapter 8
I ran up the stairs two at a time.
My heart was pounding.
Richard was in the house.
And my mother was alone.
I reached her bedroom door.
Threw it open.
The room was dark.
The window was open.
The curtains were blowing in the wind.
And my mother’s bed was empty.
“Mom!” I shouted.
No answer.
I ran to the window.
Looked down.
I could see two figures in the garden below.
One was my mother, struggling.
The other was Richard, dragging her toward the back gate.
“Let her go!” I screamed.
I didn’t even think.
I climbed out the window.
Dropped to the ground below.
The fall hurt, but I didn’t feel it.
I ran toward them.
Richard heard me coming.
He turned around.
He was holding something in his hand.
A knife.
“Stay back!” he shouted. “Or I’ll kill her!”
I stopped.
My mother was trembling.
There was a cut on her face.
“Daniel,” she whispered.
“It’s okay, Mom,” I said. “I’m here.”
“You shouldn’t have come home early,” Richard said. His eyes were wild. “None of this would have happened if you’d just stayed in Singapore.”
“Let her go, Richard,” I said. “This doesn’t have to end like this.”
“Like what?” he laughed. “Like I’m going to prison? Like my whole family is destroyed? You did this, Daniel. You and your stupid mother.”
He pressed the knife harder against her throat.
My mother whimpered.
I saw red.
But I stayed calm.
“Richard,” I said. “What do you want? Money? I’ll give you money. Just let her go.”
“Money?” he spat. “It’s too late for money. Vanessa says if I get rid of her, the recording doesn’t matter. No witness, no case.”
Vanessa.
Of course.
She had sent him.
She was still trying to win.
Still trying to destroy us.
“Vanessa is using you,” I said. “She’s already been caught on tape. She’s finished. She’s just trying to take you down with her.”
“Liar!” he shouted.
“Richard,” I said, taking a step forward. “Look at me. Look at what you’re doing. You’re holding a knife to an old woman’s throat. Is that who you are? Is that what your father would have wanted?”
He hesitated.
Just for a second.
But it was enough.
James burst through the back gate with two security guards.
Richard turned toward them.
And in that moment, my mother did something brave.
She stomped on his foot as hard as she could.
Richard yelped in pain.
The knife slipped.
I lunged.
Tackled him to the ground.
The knife skittered across the grass.
We struggled for a moment.
But I was stronger.
Angrier.
More determined.
I pinned him to the ground.
The guards were there in seconds.
Cuffed him.
Pulled him away.
He was screaming curses as they led him out.
I didn’t listen.
I ran to my mother.
She was sitting on the grass, shaking, blood running down her face from the cut on her cheek.
“Mom,” I said, dropping to my knees in front of her. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”
She looked at me.
Then she threw her arms around me.
“I knew you’d come,” she said, crying into my shoulder. “I knew you’d save me.”
I held her.
And for the second time in two days, I cried.
The police arrived ten minutes later.
They took Richard away.
They took photos of the cut on my mother’s face.
Photos of the knife.
Photos of the open window.
More evidence for the case.
Marcus arrived shortly after the police.
He took one look at my mother’s face.
And for the first time since I’d known him, he looked truly angry.
“That’s it,” he said. “No more waiting. We file everything tomorrow. Criminal charges. Civil suits. All of it. Against Vanessa. Against her mother. Against Richard. Against Ethan. Everyone who touched this.”
I nodded.
I was sitting on the couch, holding my mother while a paramedic cleaned and bandaged her cut.
She was still shaking.
But she was alive.
She was safe.
“Tomorrow,” I said.
The next morning, Marcus filed everything.
Criminal charges against Vanessa for conspiracy to commit elder abuse, theft, and solicitation of kidnapping.
Criminal charges against Richard for assault, kidnapping, and attempted murder.
Criminal charges against Ethan for embezzlement and conspiracy.
Civil charges against all three, plus Sofia, for damages, emotional distress, and restitution of the stolen money.
The warrants were issued that afternoon.
Vanessa was arrested at her apartment.
The paparazzi were there to capture every moment.
Photos of her being led out in handcuffs.
Her face twisted with rage and humiliation.
Sofia was arrested too, at her home.
She tried to run.
The police caught her before she could get to her car.
Ethan was already in custody.
Richard was already in custody.
And Vanessa…
Vanessa was finally behind bars.
That night, Aunt Margaret arrived.
She hugged my mother so tight I thought she might never let go.
They sat on the couch together, crying and talking, for hours.
May you like
I watched them from the doorway.
And for the first time in a long time, I felt like we could breathe again.
