Chapter 2 - The Ghost in the Hallway
The click of the lock felt like a gunshot in the quiet room.
I barely had time to move back to the side of the bed,
picking up the basin of water,
before the door handle turned.
Ethan Vance stepped in,
his expensive silk shirt unbuttoned at the collar,
a glass of amber liquid in his hand.
He looked at his brother with a mixture of pity and barely concealed boredom.
“How is the patient,
Maya?”
he asked,
his voice smooth,
oily.
I didn't look up,
focusing on the task of drying Richard's arm.
“He is resting,
Mr. Vance,”
I replied,
mimicking the submissive tone I had used for a decade with Ofelia.
“It’s been a long day for him.”
Ethan walked closer,
the smell of expensive bourbon trailing after him.
He stood over Richard,
peering down at him as if he were looking at a broken piece of furniture.
“He’s always resting.
Sometimes I wonder if there’s anything left inside that head of his.”
I felt Richard’s muscles tense under my hand,
but his face remained a perfect,
vacant mask.
The discipline it must have taken to endure such insults was staggering.
“The brain is a complex thing,
sir,”
I said,
trying to keep my voice neutral.
Ethan chuckled,
a dry,
hollow sound.
“Is it?
Or is it just a machine that’s finally run out of fuel?
Anyway,
don't overwork yourself.
My brother is…
demanding,
even when he can't speak.”
He reached out and patted Richard’s cheek,
a gesture so patronizing it made my blood boil.
“Get some sleep,
Richie.
The board meeting is tomorrow.
I’ll be sure to tell them you’re doing…
well.”
He turned on his heel and walked out,
not even waiting for a response.
When the door closed,
I didn't move for a long time.
I waited until the sound of his footsteps faded down the long,
carpeted corridor.
Richard didn't move either.
We were two statues in a room full of ghosts.
“He’s taking the company,”
Richard said,
his voice a ghost of a whisper.
“Tomorrow,
he’ll use my medical proxy to sign over the controlling shares of Vitalis Health.”
I looked at him,
horrified.
“Can he do that?”
“Legally,
yes.
If I am deemed mentally incompetent.
And the doctors he’s hired have already prepared the paperwork.”
I thought about my father,
how he had struggled for dignity in his final days.
I thought about Miguel,
how he had climbed his own corporate ladder by stepping on the people who loved him.
And I thought about Ofelia,
who believed that power was the only thing that mattered.
“We have to stop him,”
I said.
Richard looked at me,
a shadow of a smile touching his lips.
“We?
You’ve only been here a day,
Maya.
You could walk away right now.
You could take your first paycheck and never look back.”
“I spent twelve years watching a man destroy me while his mother cheered him on,”
I said,
my voice trembling with a decade of repressed rage.
“I’m tired of watching people get away with it.”
Richard reached out again,
and this time,
I didn't flinch.
“Then we have work to do.
Under the floorboard in the closet,
there is a small black box.
Find it.”
I moved to the closet,
my heart racing.
I pushed aside the designer suits and the rows of shoes that Richard might never wear again.
I knelt down,
feeling the wood grain until I found a slight looseness.
I pried it up.
There it was.
A small,
encrypted satellite phone and a stack of ledgers.
“This is my life’s work,”
Richard said.
“And tonight,
May you like
Maya,
you are going to help me steal it back.”
