Chapter 4 - The SummoningThe knock on my rundown apartment door at 7:00 AM felt like an eviction notice. I pulled it open, expecting a bailiff with a clipboard. Instead, two men in dark wool suits stood in the narrow hallway. They didn't look like debt collectors; they looked like federal marshals.
"Mr. Owen Bishop?" the taller one asked, flashing a polished leather badge.
"Depends on who's asking," I replied, crossing my arms over my chest, stepping back to shield Ruby, who was sitting at the kitchen table finishing her oatmeal.
"Mrs. Beatrice Kesler requests your presence at Silver Pine headquarters. Immediately."
The name hit me like a physical blow. Silver Pine. The corporation that had chewed me up, spit me out, and blacklisted me from every commercial HVAC job west of the Mississippi.
"Tell Mrs. Kesler I’m busy," I said flatly, reaching for the door handle. "I don't work for Silver Pine anymore. In fact, your legal department made damn sure I never would."
"Mr. Bishop," the second man said calmly, stepping forward just enough to block the door from closing. "You don't understand. This isn't a job interview. And Mrs. Kesler doesn't take 'no' for an answer—especially from men who shared their breakfast with her yesterday morning."
I froze. The old woman from the café. The shivering coat. Ruby’s yellow scarf.
Beatrice Kesler.
The realization washed over me in a cold wave. The billionaire founder of the empire that ruined my life had sat at my table, eaten my eggs, and watched me calculate a failing compressor with the casual precision of a man who had nothing left to lose.
Ruby peeked around the corner, clutching her empty bowl. "Daddy? Is that the nice lady from the coffee shop?"
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I looked down at my daughter, then back at the two suits waiting patiently in the corridor. I had eighteen dollars and sixty cents to my name. My career was dead, my fridge was empty, and my dignity was the only thing I had left to trade.
"Give me five minutes to get a fresh shirt," I told them.
