“Don’t say her fucking name!”
“O-okay,” he answered in between pants and gagging.
“You’re a piece of shit. You know that?”
His eyelids fluttered uncontrollably.
“Say it. SayI’m a piece of shit.” I watched as his pleading eyes moved to look at something behind me. “Don’t fucking look at him!” I insisted again, shaking him by the throat. “Say it!”
“I-I’m a p-piece of shit.”
“Good.” I loosened my grip and watched as he slid to the floor again. “Like I was saying,” I started, as I made my way back to the desk to grab the forms and pick up a pen, “you like controlling and manipulating people who have less than you. Michelle’s not the first woman you’ve scared into silence to do what you want. Your wife is also a decade younger than you. Has no family to speak of. You impregnated her when she was just sixteen years old and married her a year later. Her entire adult life has been wrapped up in being controlled by you. Of course, she would have no qualms if you brought a child by another woman home. But you’ll never get that chance. Diego is no longer yours.”
I stooped low in front of him. I watched as his eyes opened wide.
“This,” I held up the paper in front of me, “is relinquishment of parental rights. Since you’re so familiar with custody documents, I assume you know what one of these is. Sign it!” I thrust the paper and pen in his face.
His eyes ballooned again and his mouth opened and closed a few times as he stared at the form.
“I’m not fucking around, Gabriel. I promised Michelle and my brother that I wouldn’t kill you but my patience is running very thin.”
“You-you can’t do this,” he protested.
“It’s already done, you shitbag!” I bunched the collar of his shirt in my hands and pulled him so that we were nearly nose to nose. “Let me tell you a little secret the world doesn’t know about the eldest Townsend brother. Today, I save lives for a living. But before I did this, before I ever thought of training to be a Williamsport Firefighter, I took lives. I was trained by our own government’s military to be one of the best to seek out my enemy’s weak spot to assassinate him with it. Since I’m a man of my word, I won’t kill you. Not physically. But any control or power you think you have over Michelle or Diego ends today. Sign the fucking forms before I really lose it!” I growled and shoved him away from me.
Hesitantly, with a shaking hand he reached up and grabbed the form from my hand along with the pen. I watched silently, still seething, as he signed and dated the document.
“Careful not to get your blood on it,” I snarled.
I snatched the paper from him once he was finished and then moved away from him. I began walking to do the door without another word.
“Th-that was signed under d-duress you know. No judge would approve it.” He wiped blood from his nose and spat some more out on the floor.
“You think you have judges in your back pocket, Garcia? Who the hell do you think you’re fucking with?” Aaron fumed, surprising me. “You think it’s amateur fucking hour?”
I grinned at the shock written all over Gabriel’s face. He obviously wasn’t expecting that outburst from Aaron.
“What my brother means,” I began, “is no judge in this fucking city … hell, this state is going to utter a word against this signed document. And that cushy job you have down at your law firm won’t mean shit, especially since you don’t have it anymore.”
Again, Gabriel’s eyes looked as if they would pop out of his skull.
“I decided to inform the partners down at Williams & Brodsky that your being at their firm was a problem for Townsend Industries and we had no problem taking our business elsewhere if you weren’t dealt with immediately,” Aaron informed. “The board met, and as of,” he paused to look at his watch, “two hours ago you are no longer employed with the firm.”
“That’s just the beginning of your downward spiral, Garcia,” I added. “I told Michelle I wouldn’t kill you, physically. But I have every fucking intention of destroying every aspect of your world.” I pulled the door open, and two security guards, who had been waiting in the hall, walked in and made their way to Gabriel.
“These men are going to quietly escort you to your home, where your wife will be waiting with some lawyers of her own. Get him the fuck out of my sight,” I instructed the guards to do.
Gabriel was as white as ghost as he was dragged past me. And I could tell for the first time in a very long time, he had no words. Nothing to respond with.
“Fucking prick.”
I chuckled as I turned to Aaron.
“What are you laughing at?”
“That’s what I called you once to Michelle.”
My brother actually looked insulted.
