Chapter 6 - The Mother’s Call
The next thirty minutes in the penthouse were a masterclass in bureaucratic dismantling of entitlement.
While two tactical officers secured the perimeter and escorted Paige’s bewildered, crying children to a safe, quiet seating area with social services on standby, Reid stood in the center of the living room, dealing with my parents’ frantic attempts to bully the federal government over speakerphone.
“Put Marissa on the phone right now!” my mother shrieked, her voice cracking with hysteria. “This is a family matter! She has no right to call the police on her own flesh and blood! We’ll sue her! We’ll ruin her career!”
Reid didn't raise his voice. He didn't need to. Power speaks softly when it holds all the cards.
“Mrs. Keane, listen to me very carefully,” Reid said, his tone dripping with lethal calm. “Your daughter Marissa is currently three thousand miles away in London, working a legitimate job, while you orchestrated a criminal break-in across state lines. Wire fraud, conspiracy, trespassing, and tampering with federal property are not ‘family matters.’ They are federal offenses.”
“You’re bluffing!” my father roared. “You’re just some rent-a-cop boyfriend Marissa hired to scare us!”
“I am a Deputy U.S. Marshal,” Reid corrected him flatly. “And if you or your wife attempt to board a flight to Virginia to interfere with this investigation, you will be met at the gate by federal marshals and placed in a holding cell before your plane even touches the tarmac. Am I making myself crystal clear?”
The line on the other end went utterly, horrifyingly silent.
My parents had spent my entire life believing that their emotional manipulation, guilt-tripping, and loud demands were absolute laws of the universe. They had never encountered a wall that couldn't be breached by screaming louder or playing the victim.
Now, they had hit a wall made of reinforced titanium and federal statute.
“Good night, Mr. and Mrs. Keane,” Reid said, and ended the call with a firm tap on the screen.
He picked up the phone, walked over to my laptop feed where I was still silently watching from London, and held the screen up so I could see his face.
“You hearing all this, Marissa?” Reid asked, a faint, reassuring smile softening the hardened lines of his face.
May you like
“Every word,” I whispered, tears of profound relief pricking at the corners of my eyes. “Thank you, Reid. I... I am so sorry my family dragged you into this mess.”
“Don't apologize for your family’s criminal stupidity,” Reid replied smoothly. “Though... I have to admit, selling this place to me might have been the best decision you ever made. Otherwise, you wouldn't have had a federal security detail to evict them.”
