Chapter 4 - The Pathetic Ambush
Desperation makes people incredibly bold.
A week later, the security guard at the front gate of my neighborhood called my house. He informed me that my parents and Jason had showed up unannounced, demanding to be let in. They were causing a scene at the gate, refusing to move their car.
"Send them up," I told the guard. I knew this confrontation was inevitable. It was time to end it once and for all.
I stood on the massive stone steps of my front porch with Emily by my side. Nathan was safely inside playing with his nanny.
Jason car pulled up the winding driveway. He stepped out, and the sight of him almost made me laugh. He looked exhausted, pale, and utterly defeated. My parents stepped out of the back seat, their jaws practically hitting the pavement as they took in the sheer size and luxury of my home.
Jason walked up the steps, swallowing hard. He could barely look me in the eye.
"Brian," Jason started, his voice completely stripped of its usual arrogant boom. "Your house is incredible. Listen, man. I am sorry about Thanksgiving. I crossed a line. I was stressed out about work, and I took it out on you."
"You did not take it out on me," I corrected him. "You insulted my wife. You insulted my son. You tried to humiliate me because it makes you feel better about your own miserable life."
My mother stepped forward, tears streaming down her face. "Brian, please do not be cruel. Your brother is facing bankruptcy. He needs four hundred thousand dollars to save his business and keep his house. It is a drop in the bucket for you now. You are family. You have to help him."
I looked at my parents. "Where was this family loyalty for the last ten years? Where were you when I was working two jobs to pay my rent? Where were you when my wife was in the hospital delivering my son? You completely ignored my existence until you found out I had a massive bank account."
Jason fell to his knees on my porch. The former high school football star, the golden child, was sobbing on my expensive stone tiles.
"Please, Brian," Jason begged, his pride completely shattered. "I will sign a contract. I will pay you back with interest. Amanda is going to leave me. I will lose my kids. Please save me."
Emily looked down at him with zero sympathy. "A joke at someone else expense is not a joke, Jason. And neither is this."
I stepped closer to my brother, looking down at the man who had tormented me my entire life.
"You built your life on a fake image, Jason," I said firmly. "Now you have to live in reality. I am not giving you a single dime. You are going to face the consequences of your own bad decisions."
"You are a monster!" my mother screamed, her face twisting with rage. "He is your brother! How can you turn your back on him?"
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"I am simply matching the energy you gave me for thirty years," I replied evenly. "Do not ever come to my home again. If you show up here one more time, I will have you arrested for trespassing."
I turned around, took Emily by the hand, and walked back inside our beautiful home, locking the heavy wooden doors behind us.
