Chapter 14 - The Return of the Fixer
"I told you I always honor my contracts, Elias," Thomas said, offering a faint, incredibly rare smile.
I rushed around the desk and pulled the massive, battered man into a hug. He grunted slightly in pain, and I quickly stepped back. "I thought you died in the warehouse," I said, my voice thick with emotion.
"I took a bullet to the shoulder and another to the leg," Thomas explained, lowering himself into a guest chair. "I played dead until they swept the building and left to chase you. It took me a few days to stitch myself up and get out of Chicago, but I watched the news. You handled the gala perfectly. Arthur would have been incredibly proud."
"I couldn't have done it without you," I said, pouring two glasses of scotch from the crystal decanter on the desk. I handed him one. "So, what happens now, Thomas? Are you retiring?"
Thomas took a slow sip of the scotch, looking around the opulent office. "Arthur left me a very generous pension in the shadow accounts. I could disappear to an island. But running a multi-billion dollar empire requires someone watching your back, Elias. There will always be another Robert. Another syndicate. If you'll have me, I'd like to stay on as your Head of Security."
"Done," I said instantly, clinking my glass against his. "Consider your salary tripled."
We spent the rest of the afternoon going over the security protocols for the building. I gave Thomas full authorization to clean house—firing any executives or board members who had been loyal to Robert's corrupt regime. We were rebuilding Sterling Industries from the ground up, basing it on the integrity my grandfather had originally envisioned.
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Later that evening, I turned on the television in my office. The evening news showed my mother and Uncle Robert being perp-walked into a federal courthouse in orange jumpsuits. They looked broken, exhausted, and utterly defeated. I felt a twinge of sorrow, not for the monsters they had become, but for the family we could have been if greed hadn't poisoned their souls.
I turned the TV off. The past was dead. It was time to build the future.
