Chapter 3 - The Threat at the Gates
By 2:00 AM, Marcus and Rosie finally returned to their modest two-story home in Oak Park.
The house was quiet, smelling of warm cedar and lavender. Marcus carried a soundly sleeping Rosie upstairs, tucked her into her cloud-patterned bed, turned on her turtle star-projector, and sat on the floor beside her crib with his back against the wall, holding an unlit mug of tea. He didn't sleep. He couldn't.
At 6:30 AM, the quiet of the morning was shattered by the sharp, aggressive buzzing of the front doorbell.
Marcus stood up immediately, checking his phone security app. The driveway camera showed a sleek, black European sedan parked crookedly at his curb. Standing on his front porch was his sister, Bethany, wearing oversized dark sunglasses, her face pale, flanked by their mother, Eleanor.
Marcus didn't open the door. He walked into his study, opened the front window three inches, and looked down at them coldly.
"Get off my porch," Marcus said, his voice amplified through the porch intercom.
Bethany looked up, snatching off her sunglasses to reveal a dark, purplish bruise forming along her jawline where Marcus had struck her the night before.
"You bastard!" Bethany hissed, her voice loud enough to disturb the quiet neighborhood. "Look at what you did to my face! Do you have any idea what people at the country club are saying?! Dad had to call three different precinct commanders last night because of that stupid doctor's police report!"
"You're lucky I only slapped you, Bethany," Marcus replied calmly. "You locked my four-year-old child in an ice-cold room and hosed her down."
"It was a joke!" Eleanor chimed in frantically, wringing her gloved hands on the porch steps. "Marcus, please, open the door! Your father is beside himself! He’s threatening to cut off Daniel's college fund and sue Daniel for recording on private property! You need to come to the house, apologize to your sister, and tell the police it was a misunderstanding!"
Marcus pulled his phone from his pocket. "Do you see this red light on my phone screen?"
Eleanor blinked. "What?"
"I am currently recording this interaction," Marcus stated smoothly. "And three hours ago, Judge Miller signed a temporary emergency restraining order against Richard, Eleanor, and Bethany Vance. You are currently standing inside a restricted zone."
Bethany’s face contorted in disbelief. "A restraining order?! Against your own family?! Are you insane?!"
"You have exactly sixty seconds to get into your car and drive away," Marcus said, his voice flat and terrifyingly steady. "If you are still on my driveway at second sixty-one, the Oak Park Police Department—who are currently monitored by my attorney—will arrest both of you for felony violation of a court order."
"Marcus, you wouldn't dare lock up your own mother!" Eleanor sobbed, taking a step toward the door.
"Try me," Marcus said.
Bethany grabbed her mother’s arm, her eyes flashing with a mixture of rage and genuine fear as she realized her brother was no longer the quiet, compliant man she had bullied for decades.
"You're going to regret this, Marcus!" Bethany screamed as she dragged Eleanor toward the sedan. "Dad is going to destroy you! He’s going to hire the best lawyers in the state and take Rosie away from you! You're an unfit father!"
May you like
Marcus closed the window, locking the heavy brass latch. He walked back to Rosie’s bedroom, looking down at his daughter, who was still sleeping peacefully under the soft blue starlight projected on the ceiling.
"They can try," Marcus whispered into the quiet room. "They can bring the whole world. They will never touch you again."
