Chapter 4 - THE FAMILY MUTINYBy evening, the desperation inside the Sterling household reached a boiling point. With their bank accounts locked, credit cards blacklisted, and federal investigators knocking on their corporate partners' doors, Richard and Genesis turned on the person who started it all: their golden boy, Jackson.
My surveillance feeds—now acting as my favorite reality TV show—broadcasted the family meltdown in crystal-clear high definition.
"This is all your fault!" Genesis screamed, flinging a ceramic mug across their living room. It shattered against the wall—a poetic echo of Jackson’s stunt the night before. "If you had just handled your wife like a normal man instead of strutting around like a peacock, we wouldn't be ruined!"
"Handle her?!" Jackson roared back, his face purple with rage. "Did you not see her uniform? She’s a CID Special Agent! She investigates murderers, cartels, and corrupt officers! I married an apex predator, Mom! You told me she was just a quiet military desk jockey!"
"Don't blame me for your lack of backbone!" Richard shouted, pointing a shaking finger at his son. "You were the one who insisted we could bully her into signing over the deed! You said she was submissive because she cooked dinner for you!"
"I hate her! I hate all of you!" Jackson yelled, storming toward the front door.
"Where do you think you're going?" Genesis snapped. "You have no money, no car, and no home!"
"I'm going to the police station to confess everything!" Jackson yelled, tears streaming down his face. "If I cooperate and give them the ledger showing Dad signed off on the embezzlement shell companies, maybe federal prison will take pity on me!"
Richard froze. The color drained completely from the old man's face. "You... you little rat. You'd sell out your own father?"
"You taught me how to survive, Dad!" Jackson snarled, slamming the front door so hard the walls shook.
I watched the live feed from my tablet, sipping a glass of red wine. I didn't even need to lift a finger. They were tearing each other apart from the inside out, exactly as predicted.
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My phone chimed with a text message from Marcus: “Federal prosecutors just accepted the case files. Warrants for Richard and Genesis Sterling are being signed as we speak. You’re holding all the cards, Agent Vance.”
I smiled, looking out the sparkling city-view window of my apartment. The storm was coming, and my ex-family was standing right in the path of the lightning.
