I Was the Joke: Now I'm the Punchline They Fear

My Mother

"They were always going to frame you," Victor corrected. "That was part of the plan. The divorce was step one. Step two was supposed to be this: file criminal charges, have you arrested, and use the scandal to distract from their own financial crimes. With you in prison and disgraced, nobody would look at Bradford Industries' real problems."

"When?" Marcus asked. "When were they planning to do this?"

"According to the communications I intercepted, they were going to wait a few months. They want you to feel comfortable. Then, they'd strike when you least expected it." 

Victor's jaw tightened. "But Cameron's visit this morning might have accelerated their timeline. If he reports back that you refused their offer and assaulted him—"

"I didn't assault him."

"You put your hands on Bradford. That's all the story they need." Victor gestured to another stack of papers. "These are pre-written police reports, witness statements from Bradford Industries employees who'll swear they saw you acting suspiciously around the company's finances. It's all prepared. They just need to pull the trigger."

Marcus felt the walls of the building trap closing around him. Walking away wasn't even an option anymore. Even if he left New York, they could file charges and have him arrested anywhere in the country.

They'd planned this. All of it.

"There's more," Victor said quietly.

Marcus looked up from the forged documents. "More? What else could there possibly be?"

Victor hesitated, and that hesitation told Marcus this was the part Victor had been dreading. "Your mother."

The room went very still.

"My mother is dead," Marcus said instantly. "She died in a car accident when I was ten."

"No." Victor walked to his briefcase and pulled out a thin file. He set it on the table in front of Marcus. "She didn't."

Marcus stared at the file. He didn't want to open it. But his hand reached for it anyway.

Inside were recent photographs. A woman in her early fifties sitting at a café in what looked like Paris. 

Elena Laurent. His mother.

"I don't understand," Marcus said, his voice barely above a whisper.

Victor sat down across from him, his expression heavy with grief. "When you were ten, your mother tried to leave your father after she discovered some of his ... brutal business practices and couldn't live with that knowledge anymore. She wanted to take you and disappear."

Marcus couldn't look away from the photographs. His mother, alive, drinking coffee in Paris while he'd spent eighteen years believing she was dead.

"Your father gave her a choice," Victor continued. "He told her to leave without you and never contact you again, or he'd kill you both. He told her that if she tried to take you with her, he'd make sure you suffer before you die”.

"That's..." Marcus's throat closed. He couldn't finish the sentence.

"That's Robert Chen," Victor finished grimly. "Your mother chose your life over her presence in it. She agreed to disappear. And in exchange, Robert let you live and agreed to raise you properly."

Marcus set down the photos with shaking hands. "How long have you known this?"

"Since the beginning. I helped her leave, actually. And I made sure she got to Paris safely, and also set up her new identity."

Victor's voice was heavy with regret. "It was the hardest thing I've ever done. Watching you grieve for a mother who was still alive, who ..."

"Did my father send her away to hurt me?" Marcus asked. "Was this part of his plan too?"

"No. This happened before you were old enough to be part of his plans. This was just... Robert being Robert. Your mother was too soft. He couldn't have her influencing you and making you weak."

Marcus laughed, a bitter sound. 

"She tried to contact you," Victor said. "Twice in the last five years. She sent letters through intermediaries and I intercepted them both on Robert's orders."

"Of course you did." Marcus stood abruptly, the chair scraping against the floor. He walked to the windows and stared out at Manhattan. 

"What does he want?" Marcus asked the window. "My father. What's his endgame?"

"He wants you home," Victor said. "But not as you were five years ago. He wants you to understand that there's no escape from power, and that normal life is an illusion. He wants you to understand that only strength and ruthlessness matter”.

"He wants me to become him."

"Yes."

Marcus pressed his forehead against the cool glass.

 "And what do you want, Victor? You've been playing both sides for five years. Serving my father while protecting me. Compiling evidence against my own family. What's your angle?"

"I want the Chen family to survive," Victor said simply. "Robert's methods are making enemies faster than allies. Daniel is a rabid dog who'll burn everything down in five years. You're the only one who ever talked about building something that could last beyond fear and violence."

"I failed at that," Marcus pointed out.

"You tried and were sabotaged. That's not the same as failing." Victor stood and joined Marcus at the window. "I'm not asking you to be soft, Marcus. But I'm asking you to be smart and strategic”.

"What would you do?" Marcus asked. "If you were me". 

"I'd get ahead of the frame-up first. Then I'd decide if I wanted revenge or justice."

"What's the difference?"

"Revenge is emotional. It's about making people hurt because they hurt you. Justice is strategic. It's about making sure they can't hurt anyone again while you build something better from the ashes." Victor turned to face Marcus. "One feels good in the moment but leaves you empty. The other takes longer but creates lasting change."

"You sound like you're trying to save my soul, Victor."

"Maybe I am. ." Victor walked back to the table and picked up the folder with his mother's information. "Your mother included a letter in her last attempt to contact you. I never delivered it to you, but I kept it. I think you should read it now."

He held out an envelope and Marcus took it with reluctant hands.

He opened it carefully.

“My dearest Marcus,

If you're reading this, then someone, probably Victor, has decided to let you know the truth. I hope you can forgive me for the choice I made when you were ten years old. I hope you understand that letting you believe I was dead was the hardest thing I've ever done, but also the most necessary.

With all my love,

Mom”.

Marcus read the letter twice. Then, he carefully folded the pages and put them back in the envelope. 

"She always believed in you," Victor said quietly. "Even when you were being systematically destroyed by the Bradfords, she believed you'd find your way through it."

Marcus cleared his throat. "Does my father know she's been watching me?"

"No. She has her own network of people loyal to her rather than Robert."

"And Daniel? Does he know she's alive?"

"No." 

Victor paused. "Though I suspect he'll use her as leverage now that you're back”.

"Of course he will." Marcus walked back to the wall of documentation. He stared at the timeline of his destruction, the photos of Victoria and Daniel, and the financial records showing his father's manipulation of the Bradfords.

"I need to see my father," Marcus said finally.

"Are you sure? Once you confront him, there's no going back. You'll have to choose a path"

"I'm sure." Marcus turned to face Victor. "Set up a meeting by tomorrow night. And Victor?"

"Yes, Young Master?"

"Thank you”.