Chapter 21 - Blood and Greed
Peter Callahan stood up slowly, his body shaking with decades of suppressed fury and heartbreak. "You have the audacity to walk into this city after abandoning your family to starve forty years ago?"
Arthur chuckled softly, tapping his cane against the polished hardwood floor. "Sentimentality has always been your greatest flaw, Peter. You inherited your mother's weak heart. Martin, on the other hand, understands the language of power. When he contacted me in Toronto after his little disagreement with you, we realized that the city never properly cleared the original 1984 land patents."
Martin stepped forward, his eyes gleaming with bitter spite. "You threw me out of the cafe, Peter. You chose a low-class barista over your own blood brother. Now, Dad and I are going to bulldoze that coffee shop, evict Station Four, and sell the entire four-acre lot to international hotel developers for forty-five million dollars."
"You won't get a single square foot," Daniel Brooks growled, stepping between Arthur and the mayor. "This community bled for this land."
"The law does not care about your bleeding, Captain," Arthur replied smoothly, handing a bound legal writ to Mayor Whitaker. "You have thirty days to vacate Riverside Coffee and the civic lot, or the County Sheriff will be legally compelled to evict you by force. Good day, gentlemen."
Arthur and Martin turned and strode out of City Hall, their laughter echoing down the marble hallway.
Back at Riverside Coffee that afternoon, the atmosphere was solemn. Regulars spoke in hushed tones, while Claire gently held Peter's hand as he sat at the counter, devastated by his father's treachery.
"I can't let him destroy Laura's memory," Peter whispered, tears falling into his coffee. "I can't."
Mason stood near the window, watching the rain beat against the glass, his mind racing through every detail of the town's history. Suddenly, he remembered something his father used to say: *'A thief always leaves his own signature on the crime scene.'*
Mason turned to Maya. "Maya, where are the historical land deeds stored from the 1980s?"
May you like
Maya's eyes widened. "In the subterranean archives of the Old County Hall. Why?"
"Because Arthur Callahan didn't just abandon his family in 1984," Mason said with growing intensity. "He fled because of a crime. And if we find the original paper deed my father helped archive during the municipal flood, we might find the truth."
