Chapter 10 - The Knock on the Door
That evening, the quiet outside our cabin was shattered by the crunch of heavy tires on gravel.
Drew immediately reached for the hunting rifle leaning against the kitchen corner. “Stay back,” he whispered, peering through the blinds.
Through the window, I saw two vehicles. A black Mercedes sedan with vanity plates—my father’s car—and a white Range Rover that belonged to Nora.
They hadn’t brought lawyers. They had brought Nora’s two older brothers, Brett and Tyler, both former college football players who worked as site managers for Richard Vance’s construction firm.
I walked to the front door and pushed it open, standing firmly in the doorway. Drew stayed two steps behind me, his hand resting casually near his waist.
Richard stepped out of the Mercedes first, leaning on an expensive silver-tipped cane he only used when he wanted to look frail in public. Nora stepped out of the Range Rover behind him, dressed in oversized designer loungewear, her face pale and calculated.
“Mason,” Nora said, stepping toward the porch, her voice instantly dropping into that soft, pleading tone she used whenever she wanted something. “Mason, please. Just talk to me without Drew here. We can fix this. You don’t have to destroy everything we built.”
“Everything *we* built?” I asked, looking down at her from the porch. “Or the eight hundred thousand dollars you negotiated for delivering me like a prize pig?”
Nora froze mid-step. The innocent, tearful expression vanished from her face so fast it was almost comical. Her eyes widened, flicking frantically toward Richard Vance.
Richard didn’t even flinch. He leaned on his cane and took three heavy steps forward.
“So you found the agreement,” Richard said, his voice dropping into that dark, rumbling gravel that used to terrify me in my bedroom. “Smart boy. But you’re still an idiot, Mason. You think a piece of paper protects you out here in the real world?”
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“Brett, Tyler,” Richard commanded coldly without looking behind him. “Go inside. Get his computer and his phone. Let’s remind my son who owns him.”
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