Chapter 3

The world outside the freezer was a blur of flashing lights and urgent voices.

They gently took Leo from me.

Wrapped him in a white sheet.

Carried him away.

A detective, a grim-faced man named Miller, started asking questions.

I answered, numbly. Told him everything. Victoria. Chad. The spikes.

Flashbacks hit me, unbidden.

Victoria, years ago, her eyes bright with love, her hand in mine. We were building our first home together, I was a rising architect, she was a brilliant coder with big dreams.

"We' ll conquer the world, Michael," she' d said, laughing.

She did. Her tech empire grew, swallowed competitors. The money poured in.

And she changed.

Colder. Harder.

Her ambition became a wall between us.

Then the affairs. Discreet at first, then blatant.

My father' s voice, slurred with whiskey, during one of my desperate calls.

"So she' s got a man on the side? Big deal, Michael. She' s rich. You live in a palace. Leo goes to the best schools. Swallow your pride. Keep your head down. Don' t rock the boat. The money, son, think of the money."

I did. I became a stay-at-home dad, my career a distant memory. Leo was my world.

Victoria barely saw him. Barely saw me.

Chad. He was different from the others. More openly contemptuous.

He' d sneered at Leo' s valedictorian award.

"MIT? What a nerd. You should be learning how to make real money, kid, like your mom."

I remembered Leo telling me Chad had tried to mess with his speech notes before the graduation ceremony, tried to tell him his college application was a waste of time.

I' d confronted Chad then, a rare flash of anger.

"Stay away from my son."

Chad had just smirked. "Or what, old man?"

Victoria had sided with Chad, of course. Said I was overreacting.

That confrontation, that was the trigger. My "lesson."

Now, at the local hospital, chaos.

The ambulance carrying Leo was blocked at the entrance to the emergency wing.

Victoria' s private security. Big men in dark suits.

"Mrs. Sterling is having a private consultation. No one enters this wing."

A consultation? Now?

My son was dead, and she was having a consultation?

I pushed past a bewildered nurse.

"Victoria!" I screamed, my voice raw.