Love after Death (S1)

Chapter 42: The Script Burnt To Cinder

Miguel's POV

The tension was a physical weight, a suffocating pressure between the two monsters standing ten feet away from Calix. Maze's finger was tightening on the silver trigger, and Rudolph's hand was inching toward the inside of his coat-likely for a weapon of his own.

Then, the silence of the shipyard was shattered.

A loud, upbeat ringtone-the default melody on Liam's phone-blasted from right beside me. In the dead quiet of the warehouse district, it sounded like a siren.

Liam's face went ghost-white. He scrambled to hit the silence button, but the damage was done.

Inside the warehouse, the power struggle snapped.

Both Maze and Rudolph spun toward the sound, their eyes locking onto the shadows where we were hiding behind the rusted shipping container.

The tension in the warehouse snapped like a dry bone. Liam's phone continued to vibrate in his pocket-a frantic, buzzing reminder of the world that still made sense, a world of mothers who loved their children and expected them home for dinner.

"Who's there?" Rudolph barked, his voice echoing off the corrugated metal.

Maze didn't ask. She adjusted her grip on the pistol, her eyes turning into cold slits.

"Security is supposed to have cleared the perimeter, Rudolph. It seems your 'handle' on things is slipping."

I looked at Liam. He was staring at his phone screen-the caller ID simply read 'Mama' with a picture of a smiling woman who had no idea her son was currently feet away from two murderers. The juxtaposition of his normal, loving life and the hell we were standing in was almost too much to bear.

"Miguel?" Maze's voice dropped, becoming hauntingly sweet again. She recognized my silhouette. "Honey, is that you out there in the dark?"

I felt Liam's hand tremble against mine. He wasn't a criminal or a strategist; he was a son who had spent his life trying to heal the wounds I'd left behind as Monique. He didn't belong in this line of fire.

"I have to go out there," I whispered to him, my heart hammering. "If I don't, she'll shoot into the dark."

"No," Liam breathed, his grip on my wrist tightening.

"Miguel, look at her. She's not your mother right now. She's the woman from the park."

I stood up anyway, stepping out from behind the rusted container and into the harsh, artificial glare of the warehouse entrance. I held my hands where they could see them, the medical file clutched firmly in my right hand.

"I'm here, Mom," I said, my voice echoing, devoid of the 'sweet son' act. "And I brought the receipts."

The sight of me-standing there with the truth in my hands-caused a flicker of something human to cross Maze's face. But it wasn't love. It was the raw, primal fear of a woman seeing her carefully constructed empire begin to crack.

"Put the gun down, Mom," I commanded, stepping further into the light. "Liam's mother is calling. If he doesn't answer soon, she's calling the police. She's not like you-she actually cares where her child is at midnight."

Rudolph shifted, his eyes darting between me and the file in my hand. "Miguel, you don't understand the scale of what you're holding. Give me the folder. We can go home and fix this. We can make Calix's 'problem' go away together."

"There is no 'together' anymore," I snapped, looking directly at the man who had turned my life into a scripted play. "I've seen the script, Dad. I know Mom abandoned Monique at seven, then murdered Robin's father just to bury the evidence. But the real masterpiece? Mom framing Monique's father for a murder she committed. You've turned the truth into a leash, Dad, and you've been keeping an eye to her for twenty-five years pretending like you don't know it." My eyes dropped tears, "Why did you guys do it?" I cried like a child while asking them that question.