After Mom Unplugged Dad's Ventilator, I Made Her Regret It

My father refused to sign the listing documents for my mother's first love, and on his way out the door, he was hit by a truck and left a vegetable. Outside the hospital, I overheard my mother's conversation with that first love.

Paige, I only told the truck driver to scare him. How was I supposed to know he'd run him over and kill him? There was nothing I could dohe wouldn't sign, so I couldn't go public.

My mother sighed. "You can't blame yourself for this. Blame him for being too stubborn to bend!"

"Then again, Paige, now we can finally be together out in the open!"

Soon after, his company went public just as he'd wanted, and my mother unplugged my father's ventilator.

She took all of my father's assets and dumped me in a group home, where I suffered every kind of misery.

When my grandparents found out, they took me back home and raised me to adulthood by collecting scrap.

Twenty years later, I became the internal review manager of the risk control department at a well-known domestic brokerage.

That day, my secretary brought up the documents for a share-issuance project that the expert committee had approved. All I had to do was sign, and the company could submit its share-issuance plan to the SEC.

I picked up the file, and the instant I saw the name of the company's CEO, I froze.

It turned out to be the daughter my mother had with her first love.

I gave a small smile. "Send it back to the expert panel for another review."

...

At my words, a stylishly dressed young woman walked in.

I recognized her. This was Mamie Sanchez, the daughter of my mother and Chad Sanchez.

"Manager Hughes, why does this have to be reviewed again?"

I said flatly, "The documents aren't accurate."

Mamie frowned. "My company is publicly listed, with an excellent reputation. What's more, this share-issuance project has already passed the approval of your brokerage's sponsor and the safety review of the internal expert panel. What gives you the right to send it back for another review?"

I lowered my eyes. "Just thisI'm the internal review manager of this department, and I'm responsible for the firm's risk control."

Secretary Walker whispered a reminder. "Manager Hughes, Ms. Sanchez is from the Sanchez Group. The expert committee reviewed their equity structure, profit model, finances, earnings, and so on, and gave them all an Excellent-plus rating. And Ms. Sanchez is a top graduate of Harvard Business School. We're very optimistic about this share-issuance plan..."

I glared sternly at Secretary Walker. "Do it my way!"

Secretary Walker had no choice but to take the documents and head out the door.

A mocking curl came to Mamie's lips. "Manager Hughes, you're that loser's kid, aren't you?"

I frowned at her, and Mamie laughed. "Your name is Egbert Hughes, you're twenty-eight this year, and your father's name was Eustace Hughes."

They were a big company. They'd run a background check on me long ago.

"Ms. Sanchez, if there's nothing else, please leave."

Mamie let out a scornful laugh. "Fine. You've got the same loser potential your father had."

"Your brokerage's chairman, Mr. Lawrence, is an old friend of my father's, and Mr. Lawrence is very optimistic about this share-issuance project."

"If you refuse to approve it, Mr. Lawrence will have a thousand ways to bring you to heel."

My expression was cold. "This way, please."

"Hmph." Mamie strutted out on her high heels, nose in the air.

That afternoon.

I got a call from Secretary Walker. "Manager Hughes, Mr. Lawrence wants you to come to the conference room in half an hour."

"Several of the firm's internal review experts, along with Mr. and Mrs. Sanchez and Ms. Sanchez, will be there."

My heart trembled. Paige James, that heartless woman, was about to appear in front of me.

Back then, my father was hit by that truck. Kind passersby called the police and got him to the hospital. He was still breathing.

The doctor asked me for Paige James's phone number, and several doctors and nurses took turns calling her more than fifty times before they finally got through.

They politely urged her to come quickly and pay so he could be admitted to the ICU for emergency treatment.

Mom said, "I can't get there that fast. I've made plans to see a movie with a friend, and I have to wait until it's over."

Chad Sanchez's voice came through the receiver. "Paige, who's calling?"

"It's my kid. Says his father got hit by a car and needs the ICU. Probably wants me to pay for it again."

I cried and begged her, "Mom, the doctor said Dad is still alive, he just needs to get into the ICU. If you can't come, can you transfer the money to Dr. Sears's account?"

Mom flatly refused. "How could I do that? What if it's a scam?"

"Mom, I'm begging you, please come within half an hour. I won't ask for allowance anymore, and I'll give you all my New Year's money too."

"So annoying. We'll talk after I finish the movie!" Mom muttered, and hung up.

When I called back, the phone was switched off.

I had no choice but to call my grandparents, and they were frantic!

Then I begged Dr. Sears, and out of consideration for me, he and his colleagues quickly pooled together some funds to save my father.

Dad was brought back.

But there was no money for follow-up care, and by the time Grandpa rushed over early that morning, Dad had become a vegetable.

Mom didn't drift in until the afternoon of the next day.

She looked him over, and contempt showed in her eyes.

On the third day, Mom signed the papers to take Dad off the ventilator.

The moment I heard, I cried until my heart broke, and my grandmother fainted on the spot.

Paige James did not attend Dad's funeral.

After that, she sent me to a group home.

I was bullied all day long.

It wasn't until six months later that my grandfather took me to live in the countryside.

I gathered up my now-heavy heart and walked toward the conference room.

In the conference room, Chairman Ronnie Lawrence sat there, watching me.

"Egbert, I hear you have some personal history with the Sanchezs?"

Ronnie poured me a cup of tea and spoke politely.

I smiled. "Mr. Lawrence, please believe that I'm a professional. This has nothing to do with any personal grudge."

Ronnie nodded. "The Sanchezs are a large enterprise, twenty years of a solid reputation, never a single problem. Plenty of brokerages rate them A-plus. Our company worked hard to land this high-quality piece of business with them. If this secondary offering goes through, the company stands to profit!"

He looked at me. "You do your work seriously, you're a real professional. I've already put your name before the board as a key candidate to groom. Next month you could take up the role of Chief Risk Officer, and within the next two years you might even make vice president."

I was stunned!

This was the company recognizing my ability!

But all I said, mildly, was, "Thank you for your trust, Mr. Lawrence."

Seeing that I offered no promises and gave no reaction, he looked a little disappointed. "They'll be here shortly to confront you."

"I hope your starting point is the duty of your position, not a personal grudge."

"Don't let irrational behavior or personal factors cost the company a major deal."

Turning his words over, you could hear his displeasure at my going my own way.

After we finished our tea, someone pushed the door open and came in.

Among the group filing in, I saw that woman.

My biological mother, and also the accomplice who caused my father's wretched deathPaige James.

She wore designer clothes, her hair done in big permed waves. She'd put on some weight, but you could still make out the lovely features she'd had when she was young.

She sat down amid the crowd fussing around her like she was the center of the universe.

Seated beside her were her husband, Chad Sanchez, and Mamie Sanchez.

Paige James looked at me, and I looked at her too.

Twenty years, and mother and son were meeting under circumstances like these.

"Manager Hughes, I hear you sent our company's listing materials back for review. On what basis?"

Mamie asked.

I said, "Financial fraud."

"Financial fraud?"

Everyone froze.

Paige James spoke, her voice without feeling. "Since our company went public, we've never had a single financial issue exposed, and our profitability is strong. We have never once delayed employee salaries or supplier payments!"

"Your two sponsoring staff in the business department and the internal review panel of experts all signed off, and yet you want it sent back for re-review?"

I ignored her aggressive questioning. "In my opinion, your company has serious financial problems, so it will not be approved."

Mamie said, "Mom, I think this man is coming after us specifically."

Paige James smiled. "Just as spineless as his fatheronly able to play his little tricks on petty things like this."

At that moment, Secretary Walker and several experts walked in. She handed me a stack of documents. "Manager Hughes, the internal review meeting has once again approved the Sanchezs' offering plan."

Mamie looked at me smugly. "The second review turned up no problems. If you keep obstructing us, it can only be a personal grudgeyou taking revenge on us."

I looked over the people who had signed the documents; some were legal experts, others were financial experts.

That was exactly why, if I refused to approve it, I'd be putting myself right in the line of fire.

I picked up my pen and wrote a single line in the risk-control lead's opinion column: I hereby exercise my single veto power to reject this share issuance plan.

That meant their share issuance plan could not be approved by our firm.

It was a serious blow to their reputation!

Everyone was stunned when they saw it.

Mamie shouted, "Are you insane? You actually used your single veto power?"

Paige said in a low voice, "Egbert Hughes, are you set on fighting me to the very end?"

A few of the experts murmured among themselves, "What's gotten into Manager Hughes?"

"I think Manager Hughes is being completely irrational."

Ronnie's face was very grim. "Manager Hughes, the Sanchez Group hasn't had a single financial or quality problem. Your veto will do serious damage to their reputation."

"That's right, our firm's financial experts went through it and didn't find any problems."

"Manager Hughes's move is impossible to justify!"

Paige said in a low voice, "I admit I never fulfilled my responsibilities as a mother to you, but you can't blame me. I have a new family, so of course I couldn't take care of you. But that's no reason to veto my company!"

My face stayed blank. "Ms. James, I'm a professional, and the law gives me independent decision-making authority! Besides, in my eyes you're just a stranger, so don't stand here claiming to be family!"

Mamie snapped, "Is there something wrong with you? How dare you talk to your own mother that way?"

"My mother died a long time ago."

I said it flatly.

Paige froze where she stood.

Mamie raged, "A person like youungrateful, no respect for your elders! You're nothing but an ingrate!"

I laughed. "Ms. Sanchez, this is an official meeting, not a private matter. Please keep your emotions in check!"

This share issuance was Mamie's main task now that she'd taken over as CEO.

Given the Sanchez family's reputation and influence, and with Chad and Paige enlisting the help of their longtime friend Ronnie, the task should have been easy to pull off.

And it was; if it had been anyone else in my place, it would definitely have passed.

Except I was the one who vetoed their share issuance plan.

"Do you really think vetoing the share issuance plan counts as revenge against us?"

Paige sneered, "That's right, Twin Peaks Securities, where you work, is one of the top firms in the country, but it's not like the world can't turn without you."

"Worst case, we let another brokerage handle the new share issuance."

"The Sanchez family is big and powerful; they can easily absorb this kind of bad press!"

"As for you..." she sneered, "I hear Mr. Lawrence has put you on the shortlist for Chief Risk Officer, in full charge of your firm's risk management, set to take the post in a month. What a shame..."

With that she walked out.

Chad glanced at me, thoughtful, then followed her out.

A chill went through me. Was he going to move against me?

Mamie gloated, "Manager Hughes, is this your revenge on us?"

"Your power is far too small; it means nothing to us."

"You, on the other handafter losing this big deal, what's waiting for you is the company's punishment."

After they left, the firm's business department was the first to open fire on me.

"Manager Hughes, this was a huge deal we finally landed!"

"You handed the project over to someone else for your own selfish reasons!"

"Our commissions are gone, and it's all your fault!"

Ronnie shook his head. "The Sanchez family is big and powerful and has never had a financial problem. This deal was money handed straight to us, and you drove them away."

"I had already nominated you to the board as Chief Risk Officer, but you... are such a disappointment."

The colleagues clamored, "Mr. Lawrence, he has to be punished!"

Ronnie told me, "You're suspended for a week, pending the company's investigation."

The next day, word came from the stock market that the Sanchez family's stock had hit its daily limit-down because I'd vetoed their share issuance plan.

But the Sanchezs moved fast, and rumors spread that more than a dozen securities firms were in talks with them to undo the fallout.

The company investigated me and soon reached its conclusion: my conduct had not been professional and had damaged the firm's interests. I was internally disciplined and demoted to security guard at the company's front gate!

Faced with the sneers and jeers of so many people, I felt nothing inside, but I thought back to that night, to my father lying in the ICU.

I had begged Paige James over the phone to come quickly and save my father.

That heartless woman never showed up.

My father had loved her deeply back then, cared for her in every way, wouldn't even let her do housework, and yet this woman had cheated on him long before.

She dumped me at a group home. When my grandmother came to take me in and saw how skin-and-bones I was, she broke down crying.

With my grandparents caring for me, my childhood was a happy one.

The next day, I was jolted awake by the urgent ringing of my cell phone.

It was Grandpa.

"Egbert, what's going on? A bunch of people came to our house and trampled the tomatoes we planted in the field!"

"That's right, we had a good crop this year, thought we could sell them for a little money, and now what are we supposed to do?"

My grandparents are getting old, and the money I give them they just save. They grow an acre of tomatoes to get by.

Grandpa sent me a few pictures. Bright red tomatoes crushed into the mud, the whole field a sea of red.

"Grandpa, who were they?"

"I don't get it either. Later, Valerie Pruitt, the girl next door, said someone had posted online to cyberbully you."

My grandparents told me to be careful and to let them know if anything came up. Before hanging up, he sent me a picture.

It was a post. Using the keywords, I found the web page.

The headline was eye-catching: A man cheated twenty years ago and drove a heartbroken woman away; twenty years later, his child took private revenge and vetoed a certain company's plan to issue new shares.

Paige James was the one who stabbed my dad in the back, and then she turned around and said my dad had cheatedturning it all against him!

The comment section was full of people cursing me!

"This kind of bastard is rotten to the core, they should haul him off and shoot him!"

"Is this about the Sanchezs? There've been rumors lately that the Sanchezs' new-share offering got vetoed over financial problems, sending the stock to a daily limit-down!"

"The Sanchezs have financial problems? Isn't that a joke?"

Some people even deliberately posted my grandparents' address, egging netizens on to come after me!

Not long after I finished reading the post, someone knocked on my door.

When I went over to look, it turned out to be Captain Lambert from the precinct, come with a few others.

"Egbert Hughes, someone has reported you for financial crimes. You'll need to come with us now."

A chill went through me, and I asked, "Did Paige James report me?"

Captain Lambert stayed expressionless. "I'm sorry, I can't disclose that."

I went with them to give a statement.

The company called to tell me that, because I was suspected of a serious crime, I was being fired.

It was only after forty-eight hours of questioning that the precinct let me out.

At the entrance, Mamie Sanchez stood there with a group of people, looking me over haughtily. "Bastard, take a good look. We've partnered up with your former employer all over again. You did all that for nothing, lost a job with a bright future, and worse still, no one in the industry will ever hire you again."

She wasn't wrong. I'd been a rising star in the securities world, and given time I could have risen to Ronnie Lawrence's position.

But now the Sanchezs had pinned a trumped-up charge on me. After I was detained for investigation, they used paid online trolls to drag me down, claiming I'd committed financial crimes.

No securities firm would ever hire me again.

And I, because of the confidentiality agreement, couldn't reveal a single detail about how I'd vetoed them, or I'd end up behind bars.

"Egbert Hughes, consider this a little welcome gift from me."

Mamie Sanchez tossed me a kraft envelope, laughed loudly, and turned to leave.

I opened it and found a court summons.

They were claiming my actions had caused the Sanchezs both reputational and financial losses, and demanding a hundred million in damages.

I laughed. "Actually, I've got a big gift for you too. See you in court!"