Chapter 13 - Face to Face
|
The elevator doors slid open with a soft chime, and I stepped out into the grand lobby. The space was completely silent, save for the sound of my leather shoes clicking against the marble floor as I walked toward the security desk. Julian was pacing furiously, but the moment he saw me, he froze entirely.
He stared at my tailored suit, my confident posture, and the undeniable aura of authority that I carried. This was not the broken, desperate man he remembered from ten years ago.
"Arthur," Julian gasped, stepping forward before Marcus smoothly blocked his path with a solid, muscular arm.
"Let him speak, Marcus," I said calmly, stopping a safe three feet away from my brother. "Hello, Julian. What do you want?"
"What do I want?" Julian laughed, a harsh, bitter sound that held no genuine humor. "Mom just died, Arthur! I had to bury her all by myself! And then I find out that the anonymous millionaire who threw a few pennies at the funeral home was my own brother? You have hundreds of millions of dollars, and you let us rot in Ohio!"
"I did not let you rot, Julian. You chose your own path," I replied, my voice completely devoid of emotion.
"We are blood!" he yelled, pounding his fist against his own chest. "You abandoned your family! You owe us!"
"I owed you nothing then, and I owe you even less now," I stated firmly, looking him dead in the eye. "Ten years ago, you and mother tried to bankrupt me to fund a wedding spectacle. You treated me like a human ATM, and when I refused, you threw me out like trash. You made your choice."
May you like
"She was your mother!" Julian screamed, spit flying from his lips. "She cried for you!"
"She cried for my wallet," I corrected him coldly. "I paid for her funeral because it was the basic, decent thing to do. Not out of love, and certainly not out of obligation. My obligations to you ended a decade ago. You are trespassing on my property, Julian."
