I know that look.
“She’s reaching for a phone,” I say.
“Ma’am, step away—”
She drops it.
On purpose.
The screen shatters.
“Oops,” she says. “Clumsy.”
They take her anyway.
No cuffs. Yet.
In the holding room, she finally looks… annoyed.
Not scared.
When they allow me in, she doesn’t sit.
She stands.
“You always were the disappointing one,” she says.
“You always were a criminal,” I reply.
She tilts her head. “You think this stops anything?”
“Yes,” I say. “It stops you.”
Her eyes flicker.
Just once.
That’s the crack.
“You built an empire,” I continue. “On intimidation. On leverage. On hurting people who couldn’t fight back.”
“They were in the way.”
“They were innocent.”
She shrugs. “Irrelevant.”
I lean forward. “You flooded a ninety-two-year-old woman’s house and left her to die. What was the purpose of flooding the kitchen?”
“She lived. The idiot thought if there was water on the floor, people would think she slipped and fell. ”
“You are going to prison. I’m glad my father found someone he loved and who loved him. The only reason he didn’t leave you is that he was afraid you would harm me.”
Her eyes finally go cold. “Laney should have stayed gone. None of this would have happened. Your father shouldn’t have left her so much in his will. I once told your father that if he left me, I would kill you. He believed me.
That’s when I stand.
“You will never go near them again.”
