Chapter 4 - The Ruined Room
Victor dropped to his knees on the cold concrete floor, letting Annie slip from his arms. The little girl immediately ran to the side of the mattress, throwing her small arms around her mother’s neck.
"Mom! Mom, look! I found Dad! He was at the big hotel!" Annie cried, her voice bursting with a manic, childish joy that broke the heavy silence of the room.
Catherine’s hand, thin and trembling, rose to touch Annie’s cheek. Then, her eyes shifted slowly to Victor, who was kneeling just two feet away, his hands shaking as he reached out to touch her arm. The moment his fingers brushed against her skin, he realized she was burning with a high, dangerous fever.
"You..." Catherine whispered, her eyes filling with tears that ran down into the deep hollows of her cheeks. "Maris said... she said you signed the papers. She showed me the digital signature on your corporate letterhead. She said if I came within five miles of your office, you would have me arrested for extortion."
"I never signed anything, Catherine," Victor said, his voice cracking as he pulled her frail body into his arms, lifting her against his chest. She felt like paper, as if a strong gust of wind could blow her away. "My mother forged everything. She stole the money. She took the fifty thousand dollars every single month while you were here... while you were living like this."
Catherine closed her eyes, a single, broken sob escaping her lips. "I didn't have the money for the medication, Victor. The clinic in Northside... they wouldn't give me the infusions without the private insurance clearance. I had to choose between the rent and the pills. I’m sorry... I tried to keep her clean, I tried to keep Annie fed..."
"Hush, now," Victor said, his tears finally breaking through his hard exterior, dropping onto her worn blanket. "Don't say another word. The nightmare is over. I’m taking you home."
"Mr. Williams," Brian said from the doorway, his face pale as he looked at the water dripping from the ceiling. "The ambulance detail from the ABC Medical Center is arriving at the main avenue. They can't bring the gurney down this alley."
"I’ll carry her," Victor said without hesitation. He slid his arms beneath Catherine’s back and knees, lifting her effortlessly. She weighed less than his regular gym bag. He looked at Brian. "Take Annie. Don't let her feet touch this mud again."
As Victor carried his wife out of the dark, damp room, the residents of the tenement lined the corridor in silence. They watched the wealthy developer, his white shirt stained with dirt and his wife's sweat, carry her through the dingy hallway as if she were the most precious cargo on earth.
Outside, the red and blue lights of the private medical units were already reflecting off the industrial buildings at the mouth of the alley. Two paramedics in clean, white uniforms ran forward with an insulated stretcher, their faces grave as they saw the condition of the woman in Victor’s arms.
"She has a severe systemic infection," Victor told the lead paramedic as they laid Catherine onto the soft, heated mattress of the gurney. "History of lupus. No treatment for three years. She’s running an acute fever."
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"We’re on it, Mr. Williams," the paramedic said, immediately hooking up an IV line with an automated antibiotic drip. "We’ll have her in the ICU within twenty minutes."
Victor stepped into the back of the ambulance alongside Annie, holding her small hand while Brian took the wheel of the Suburban to follow them. As the siren began to wail, cutting through the dark, rainy streets of the city, Victor looked out the small glass window at the passing industrial landscape. The grief was gone now, replaced by a cold, calculating architecture of retribution. Maris Williams had spent three years spending his daughter’s life for thirty pieces of silver; he was going to make sure she paid for every single cent with her freedom.
