Chapter 5 - Unfinished Business
"General Ulette," a voice called out from the side aisle.
Everyone turned. A heavy-set man in an expensive gray suit was pushing his way through the frozen crowd. It was Arthur Sterling, the managing partner of Sterling & Associates—one of the largest municipal developers in the state, and a man who had spent the last twenty years kissing Gerald’s ring at every charity gala in the county.
Sterling didn't look at Gerald. He walked straight past him, stopping three feet away from me, and offered a deep, respectful nod.
"Arthur," I acknowledged coolly.
"I didn't realize you were connected to the Ulette family," Sterling said, wiping a thin layer of sweat from his forehead. "If I had known... well, the Department of Defense logistics contract bidding closes on Friday. My firm has been trying to secure a meeting with the command logistics director for six months."
Gerald’s head snapped toward Sterling, his eyes bulging. "Arthur? What are you talking about? Sterling & Associates has a binding partnership with Ulette Insurance! You can't just—"
"Gerald," Sterling interrupted, not even bothering to look at my father. "Let's be professionals. Business is business."
Sterling turned back to me, his smile oily and desperate. "General, if there's any way we could sit down tomorrow morning—"
"There isn't, Arthur," I said, my voice dropping into a register that made him step back. "Your firm failed safety compliance audits on three federal housing projects in Virginia last quarter. My office is currently reviewing your debarment status."
Sterling’s face went completely grey. "General, please, that was a clerical error—"
"Take it up with the inspector general," I said, turning my back on him entirely.
I looked back at my father, who was now trembling so violently he had to grab hold of the edge of table one to stay upright. His empire—built on intimidation, quiet bribes, closed doors, and social blackmail—was dissolving before his eyes, not because of a hostile corporate takeover, but because he had spent fifteen years forgetting that people grow up.
"You wanted to know why I came tonight, Dad," I said softly, stepping closer until the scent of his expensive cologne mixed with the smell of sweat and panic. "I came because Clare asked me to. And because I wanted to see if you had changed at all."
"Evelyn..." Gerald choked out, his voice cracking with a desperate, pathetic plea that he had never once offered me in my entire life. "Please. Don't do this to the family. We can talk in the study. Just... just tell your men to step back."
I looked at him for a long, silent moment. All the anger I had carried for fifteen years—the cold nights on his porch, the locked doors, the erased photographs—was gone, burned away by the simple, liberating realization that he was no longer a giant.
He was just an old man standing in a rented room, wondering why nobody loved him when the money ran out.
"There is nothing left to talk about, Gerald," I said, using his first name for the very first time in my life.
I turned away from him, walking up the steps to stand beside my sister, who was smiling through her tears.
May you like
"Come on, Clare," I said, extending my hand toward her. "Let's go somewhere real."
As we turned to walk down the back stairs toward the exit, escorted by the four crisp uniforms of the United States Air Force, my father let out a ragged, broken gasp and collapsed heavily into his chair at table one, entirely ignored by every single person in the room.
