"Mrs. Swanson is really something else. She actually had her legal team push to hand over all our operating revenue to Clark as compensation!"
"The kid got sick because Clark fed him the wrong thing! How is that our fault? The favoritism couldn't be more obvious!"
"Exactly! Whose wife is she supposed to be?!"
Theo quickly clapped a hand over his colleague's mouth and shot a nervous glance at my face.
I stiffened for just a moment, then smiled.
"It's fine. Let's go."
Relief broke across Theo's face. "Yes, sir!"
We had barely left the factory grounds when an explosion ripped through the air behind us.
Theo threw himself over me.
A wave of scorching heat rolled past.
I whipped around.
Above the factory complex, flames clawed at the sky.
"Dad! Mom!"
I charged back like a man possessed.
Theo and the others tackled me, pinning my arms.
"Mr. Sanchez! It's too dangerous! You can't go in there!"
"My parents' things are still inside!"
"Mr. Sanchez!"
They held on tighter.
Fire trucks and patrol cars screamed onto the scene one after another. Caution tape went up around the perimeter. Everyone blocked my path, refusing to let me get any closer.
My breath came in ragged, shaking gasps.
"My parents' belongings are in there! Everything they left behind is in there! Let go of me!"
"Even if that's true, it's already gone! There's nothing left!"
The rescue worker pleaded with me, his voice hoarse with exhaustion.
I stared at his soot-blackened face.
Every ounce of strength drained from my body.
I turned around.
Not far away, a Rolls-Royce sat parked at the curb. A familiar face hovered behind the tinted window.
Edna held a slim cigarette between her fingers, watching the scene with the calm detachment of someone enjoying a show.
When she noticed me looking, she shifted the baby in her arms and smiled, slow and coy.
In the driver's seat, Clark was finally smiling too.
Edna stepped out of the car.
"You humiliated Clark in court. Surely you didn't think there wouldn't be some payback?"
I couldn't speak.
"The inventory's all gone, I know, but I'll reimburse you afterward. Don't blame him. This was all my idea."
My throat clenched, tighter and tighter.
Everything inside that building held traces of my parents and my grandfather.
When I was five, my father would carry me through those halls, my mother walking beside us. He'd point to each piece of equipment, one by one, and tell me the story of how the brand was built.
They would ruffle my hair and say, "Someday this company will be yours. Take good care of it."
"Dad... Mom... I'm sorry..."
The world went black. The ground tilted and spun.
Edna's composed expression froze.
"Alex!"
Before I lost consciousness, I heard her voice, panicked and shrill.
When I opened my eyes again, blood surged up my throat and I coughed it onto the sheets.
I looked around in a daze. The doctor. Edna.
The doctor let out a heavy sigh.
"Cardiopulmonary damage, triggered by extreme emotional distress. You already had preexisting injuries. Why weren't you taking better care of yourself? From now on, even one all-nighter could make you cough up blood. Do you understand that?"
I closed my eyes.
The old injury to my heart. That was because of Edna too.
Back when we were still in school, Edna was always getting into conflicts with local thugs. Every time it happened, I stepped in to protect her. I took beatings for it. Knife wounds. Worse.
The scar on my heart came from a fruit knife that had punched clean through my chest. For her.
Back then, I had no idea that Edna was picking those fights to back up Clark.
After the doctor left, Edna seized my hand and gripped it so hard her knuckles went white.
"Alex, I'm sorry. I didn't know... I..."
Her voice cracked.
Her shoulders trembled.
"You got hurt because of me... It's all my fault... I shouldn't have put you through this, making you pull all-nighters for two months fighting that lawsuit, and then... burning down your warehouse..."
