Chapter 16 - ANDREW FINALLY CHOSE A SIDE
Andrew found his mother before the investigators did.
She called him from a prepaid phone.
He did not tell anyone.
Not immediately.
Margaret asked him to meet her at an abandoned Whitmore estate outside Greenwich.
She told him to come alone.
Andrew went.
Later, he told me what happened.
Margaret was sitting inside his father’s old library when he arrived.
The original guarantee lay on the table.
“You took it,” Andrew said.
Margaret smiled.
“I preserved it.”
“You stole it.”
“From people who stole from us first.”
Andrew stared at her.
“The Escalantes didn’t steal anything.”
“They destroyed your uncle.”
“He committed fraud.”
“He protected this family.”
“He stole from investors.”
Margaret’s expression hardened.
“You sound like Mariana.”
Andrew almost laughed.
“For once, maybe that isn’t an insult.”
She stood.
“You’ve become weak.”
“No.”
He looked at his mother.
“I became you.”
That silenced her.
Andrew continued.
“I blamed Mariana because she made me feel inadequate.”
“I cheated because Brenda made me feel admired.”
“I stole because you taught me that survival justified anything.”
“And I hit my wife because I wanted one moment where she looked powerless.”
His voice cracked.
“But she was never the powerless one.”
Margaret’s eyes narrowed.
“You’re pathetic.”
“Maybe.”
Andrew looked at the document.
“But this ends.”
She grabbed it first.
Andrew reached for it.
Margaret stepped backward.
Then she pulled a lighter from her pocket.
“If I can’t use it, neither can they.”
Andrew froze.
“Mother.”
The flame appeared.
She held it beneath the corner of the guarantee.
Andrew lunged.
The papers fell.
The flame caught the edge.
He stamped it out with his shoe.
Margaret struck him across the face.
For a second, neither moved.
Then Andrew laughed bitterly.
“You know what’s funny?”
Margaret stared at him.
“I finally understand Mariana.”
He took out his phone.
Margaret’s face changed.
“You didn’t.”
Andrew looked toward the front windows.
Red and blue lights appeared through the trees.
“I did.”
Investigators surrounded the house.
Margaret stared at her son as though he were a stranger.
Andrew picked up the damaged guarantee.
Then he said quietly:
“You taught me to protect the Whitmore name.”
He handed the document to an investigator.
“I’m finally protecting it from you.”
Margaret was taken into custody before midnight.
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But Andrew’s decision did not save him.
Because the next morning, prosecutors issued a warrant with his name on it too.
