Chapter 8: The Desperate Ambush
Desperation is a powerful motivator.
Using the details from the financial article, my mother and Mia tracked down the location of Vanguard Tech’s global headquarters downtown. It was a massive, towering skyscraper of sleek black glass and steel.
They showed up at 8:00 A.M. on a Thursday. They had dressed in their nicest clothes, deliberately trying to look respectable but pathetic. They bypassed the outer security plaza by claiming they were family members here for a surprise visit, and sat in the vast, marble-floored lobby, waiting like vultures.
At 8:30 A.M., a fleet of black SUVs pulled up to the glass entrance.
I walked through the revolving doors. I was flanked by my executive team, Mr. Sterling, and a detail of private security. I wore a tailored charcoal suit and carried myself with the effortless authority of someone who held the world in her hands.
My mother spotted me. She shot up from the leather lobby chair, dragging Mia behind her.
"Lauren!" my mother cried out, her voice echoing loudly in the cavernous marble lobby. She pushed past a junior executive, tears streaming down her face, arms wide open for a hug. "Lauren, sweetie! Oh, thank God we found you!"
My security detail instantly stepped forward, forming a physical wall between me and my family.
"Ma'am, step back," the lead guard ordered, holding his hand up.
"I'm her mother!" she wailed, trying to push past the guard. "Lauren, tell them! Tell them it's me! We're so sorry, baby! It was all a terrible misunderstanding!"
Mia peeked around the guard, looking at my designer suit and the diamond watch on my wrist with greedy, desperate eyes. "Lauren, please! We're getting evicted! We don't have anywhere to go!"
I stopped walking. The entire lobby fell dead silent, watching the CEO get ambushed by two hysterical women.
I looked at my mother. I looked at my sister. I didn't see family anymore. I just saw the trash I had taken out last week.
"Let them through," I said quietly to the guards.
May you like
My mother’s face lit up with profound relief. She thought I was caving. She thought the obedient, guilty nurse was still alive inside me.
She had no idea she had just walked straight into her own execution.
