Chapter 17 - The Shadow of Margaret
The next morning, Andrew received a visitor at the legal clinic.
He was filing paperwork when a woman walked into his small office, carrying an expensive designer handbag that looked wildly out of place in the rundown building.
Andrew froze.
It was his mother, Margaret.
She looked older, her face hardened by her time in prison and her subsequent fall from high society, but her eyes still held that familiar, toxic arrogance.
"Mother," Andrew said, standing up slowly. "What are you doing here?"
Margaret closed the door behind her and looked around the shabby office with blatant disgust.
"Look at you," she sneered. "Living like a peasant. Working for free. It is pathetic, Andrew."
"I am paying my debts to society," Andrew replied coldly. "You should try it."
Margaret ignored the insult. She stepped closer to his desk, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper.
"Victor Vance reached out to me," she said.
Andrew’s blood ran cold.
"He offered me a very generous sum of money to provide testimony against Mariana," Margaret continued, a cruel smile forming on her lips. "He wants me to testify that Mariana was the mastermind behind all our old corporate fraud, and that she is now framing him to steal his real estate."
Andrew slammed his hands on the desk.
"You will do no such thing! Mariana had nothing to do with your crimes, and you know it!"
"It doesn't matter what the truth is, Andrew," Margaret laughed. "It matters what the jury believes. And a jury will easily believe that a scorned woman is capable of terrible things."
"If you lie on the stand, I will personally hand the prosecutors the evidence to put you back in prison for perjury," Andrew threatened, his voice shaking with absolute rage.
Margaret looked at him, surprised by the fire in his eyes. She was used to controlling him, to bending him to her will.
"You would send your own mother back to a cell?" she asked, her eyes narrowing.
May you like
"You are not a mother," Andrew said with finality. "You are a parasite. If you go anywhere near Mariana, or this trial, I will destroy whatever miserable life you have left. Now get out of my office."
Margaret stared at him for a long moment, realizing she had finally lost her grip on her son. She turned and walked out, slamming the door behind her.
