Chapter 4 - The Mother's Complicity
The morning sun cast a harsh,
unforgiving light through the interrogation room window.
I did not go to Grant’s room.
I went to room four,
where my mother had been brought in for questioning.
She sat at the metal table,
clutching a styrofoam cup of water,
looking small and incredibly frail.
But I felt no pity.
Not anymore.
I walked into the room,
the heavy steel door clicking shut behind me.
She looked up,
her eyes red and swollen.
"Mara,"
she cried,
reaching a shaking hand out toward me.
"Please,
tell them to let me go home.
I haven't done anything wrong."
I did not sit down.
I stood over her,
holding a stark white file folder filled with financial records.
"I pulled the bank statements,
Mom,"
I said,
my voice completely flat.
She froze,
her hand dropping slowly back to the table.
"What statements?"
she asked,
her voice trembling,
feigning ignorance with the skill of a practiced liar.
"The deposits,"
I replied,
opening the folder and dropping a stack of highlighted papers onto the table.
"Every month,
for the last two years.
Ten thousand dollars,
wired directly from a shell corporation into your private savings account."
Her face went completely white.
The denial died on her lips before she could even speak it.
"Grant paid you,"
I continued,
the betrayal tasting like ash in my mouth.
"He paid you to defend him.
He paid you to tell me I was crazy.
He paid you to convince me to stay with him."
"No,
Mara,
you don't understand,"
she stammered,
tears spilling over her cheeks.
"Your father and I were drowning in debt.
The medical bills,
the mortgage.
We were going to lose the house."
"So you sold your daughter to a criminal?"
I yelled,
slamming my fist onto the metal table.
The loud bang made her flinch violently in her chair.
"He told me it was just investment money!"
she sobbed,
burying her face in her hands.
"He said he loved you,
that he just needed my help to keep the marriage together because of your stressful job.
I didn't know he was doing anything illegal!"
"You knew he was hurting me!"
I shot back,
my chest heaving with years of suppressed anger.
"You saw the bruises.
You heard him yelling.
You told me not to provoke him,
because you didn't want the wire transfers to stop."
The silence in the room was deafening.
She couldn't deny it.
She had chosen her own comfort over my survival.
"You are going to tell the federal prosecutors everything,"
I instructed,
my tone leaving no room for negotiation.
"Every conversation you had with Grant.
Every excuse he made.
If you cooperate,
they might let you keep your freedom."
"And if I don't?"
she asked,
looking up with a pathetic expression of fear.
"Then you go to federal prison for aiding and abetting a money laundering syndicate,"
I stated coldly.
I turned my back on her,
walking toward the heavy steel door.
"Mara,
please,
I am your mother!"
she cried out,
desperation echoing in the small room.
I paused,
my hand resting on the cold metal handle.
"My mother died the day she put a price tag on my life,"
I whispered without looking back.
I opened the door and walked out into the bustling hallway of the field office.
I had severed the final tie to my past.
There was no family left to protect,
no fake marriage to maintain.
May you like
There was only the mission.
And Grant was about to find out exactly why they called me the best cyber agent in the division.
