"Cut the old hag's tubes—"
"I'll spit it out!"
My whole body trembled as I spat the pendant containing my foster father's ashes onto the floor.
"There... take it..."
Jarvis pulled a silk handkerchief from his breast pocket and picked up the pendant, now slick with my blood. He looked at me with a twisted smile.
He stared down at my bloodshot eyes, then planted his foot on top of my head.
"What's this? Crying? Daddy issues?"
He pointed at himself.
"I'll be your daddy. Go on. Call me Dad. Let me hear it."
A tidal wave of hatred churned inside my chest.
Tamara stood off to the side, watching the show with undisguised amusement.
I glanced at my foster father's portrait, most of it already consumed by fire.
Over and over, I apologized to him in my heart.
Dad, your son is a disgrace. But I can't refuse. Mom is still in that animal's hands...
"Are you going to say it or not?!"
Jarvis grabbed a fistful of my hair and slammed me against the wall.
"My patience is running thin..."
I glared at him through bloodshot eyes, my entire body shaking, and forced the word through clenched teeth.
"...Dad."
A chorus of piercing laughter erupted around me.
Jarvis looked thoroughly pleased.
"There we go. Now that you've got me for a father, you don't need this worthless little ashes pendant anymore, do you?"
He flung the pendant across the room.
After shooting me one last vicious look, he spoke softly into his phone.
"Cut the old woman's oxygen line."
"No...!"
I stumbled and crawled toward him, desperate to snatch the phone from his hand.
But it was already too late.
On the surveillance feed, every piece of medical equipment flashed red simultaneously, shrieking with piercing alarms.
Nurses flooded into the room in a frenzy.
But my foster mother's heart monitor had already flatlined.
"You animal! Jarvis, you'll burn in hell for this...!"
Jarvis sneered and backhanded me across the face.
"Burn in hell?"
"Let me tell you something, Arthur. I'm the young master of the Farley family. That's my golden ticket. Untouchable."
He wrapped his arm around Tamara's slender waist, eyes brimming with triumph, and walked out.
I swallowed my tears, and a cold laugh rose from somewhere deep inside me.
In less than two hours, that golden ticket would change hands.
They had barely stepped outside when Tamara doubled back.
She seized my chin in her grip.
"Get dressed and clean yourself up. You're coming with me to the courthouse to finalize the divorce."
With everything that had happened over the past few days, I'd nearly forgotten.
Seven days ago had been my anniversary with Tamara.
Figuring we were practically about to get married anyway, I'd taken her to get our marriage license.
The day we registered, she'd been in a sour mood from the moment she woke up.
At the time, I thought I'd slipped up on some small detail.
Now it all made sense.
"What are you standing around for? Move!"
Jarvis drove a savage kick into my side.
Several burly men rushed forward, seized me, and shoved me into the back seat of a car.
The entire ride, Tamara kept nagging at Jarvis to hurry.
"Jarvis, drive faster. Just knowing my name is on the same marriage certificate as his makes me sick. I can practically feel his poverty rubbing off on me..."
Jarvis reached over and squeezed her thigh.
"Alright, I'll speed up..."
Tamara draped herself over Jarvis's arm.
Through her sheer blouse, I could see the hickeys covering her skin.
The nauseating sounds from last night echoed in my ears again.
I pressed down hard on my wound, forcing back the bile rising in my throat.
The phone screen lit up in my clenched fist.
A message from Grandpa.
Arthur, I've already sent out the reunion announcement. The nine o'clock morning news will broadcast it across every station in the capital simultaneously. Send me your address, and I'll come pick you up and bring you home...
I glanced at my watch.
Eight forty-five.
Tamara, let's see if you're still this smug in fifteen minutes...
The car screeched to a halt in front of the courthouse at Tamara's insistence. Jarvis's people had clearly handled the paperwork in advance. In less than a minute, the divorce was finalized.
I stared at the certificate declaring our relationship dissolved and quietly exhaled, then looked up at Tamara with a raised brow.
"In such a rush to divorce. I take it you're planning to marry your precious Jarvis today?"
Tamara caught something off in my tone and faltered for a second. But the smirk returned almost instantly.
"Of course. A man as talented and loaded as my Jarvis? I need to lock that down tight."
She was already barking at the clerk before she finished speaking.
"Hurry up. Get the marriage certificate done already."
The official stamps came down on both marriage certificates at the same moment that the anchor's crisp, polished voice poured out of the television mounted on the wall.
"Breaking news. The sole heir of the Farley family, missing for twenty years, has been found. His foster parents named him Arthur Vance..."
