Chapter Six

September 11, 2001 

"This nation is peaceful, but fierce when stirred to anger." - President George W. Bush

"The most visible symbol in New York is the spirit of a free people." - New York City Mayor Rudolf Giuliani

“Darci, it’s me.  Thank God, I finally got a signal,” Marc, dusty, dirty, bloody, but unbeaten, said into his cell phone, exhaustion and sorrow deepening the timbre of his voice.

“Marc!” Darci sobbed into the phone.  “Thank God you’re safe.  Thank God.”

Chapter Seven

March 2002 

"Being oppressed means the absence of choices." - Bell Hooks

"Director?"  Marc asked incredulously, staring at the vice president of purchasing.  He didn't care how disrespectful he was being, he just could not help himself.  That Winchester Industries Limited would be offering him a director's position at his young age was laughable.  The previous director had been at the company over fifteen years before being promoted to that level and had a Master's in Business Administration.  Marc Chelios, son-in-law of the company president, had been there half that time and merely possessed a Bachelor's degree in journalism.

"You're not interested?" the distinguished gray-haired man in the impeccable and costly designer suit said, his eyebrow raised and a sardonic note present in his masculine voice.

Marc paused for a moment.  Was he interested?  Being the assistant director had been so perfect for him, but then again, the claustrophobia he had been feeling in the city since the events of the previous September were no secret.  Maybe this was the vice president's way of trying to entice him to stay with the company.

Of course, Marc reflected bitterly, Darci won't let me leave anyway.  He immediately halted that train of thought, the sudden anger that rose within him surprising him to his very core.  Had he not gotten over that?  He determinedly turned his mind back to the conversation and focused his attention on the vice president, who was sitting and watching him, obviously waiting for his reply.

Chapter Eight

March 2003 

"It is always easier to believe than to deny. Our minds are naturally affirmative." - John Burroughs 

In the silence, Andrew contemplated the young Mr. Chelios for a few moments.  He quickly came to a conclusion.  All of the business courses in the world and the finest of business degrees were not going to matter in Marc Chelios' case.  Marc did not have the fire, the passion to succeed at Winchester that he had once had.  He wasn't performing better at the purchasing directorship because he simply did not care.

As that realization struck him, Andy knew he had a tough choice to make.  There were many things to consider, not the least of which was the success of this company.  Andrew Brodhun had dedicated the last thirty odd years of his life to Winchester Industries Limited.  He cared deeply if this company succeeded or failed and the purchasing division was his life.  But Chuck had been his best friend since childhood, and his friend's desires were also important to him.  Chuck's daughter wanted her husband to stay in New York, a successful businessman, and therefore, that was Chuck's desire as well.  Chuck, via Andy's manipulations throughout the years, had managed to give his daughter that very thing, completely unbeknownst to Marc.

But if the company was going to start suffering because of this, Andy did not feel that he could be a party to this any longer.  But to rectify that situation and persuade Marc to step down or resign would most certainly cause deep unhappiness for many people.  Marc would certainly be mortified, and justifiably outraged, to hear how his rise up the Winchester ladder had been manipulated from the beginning.  Darci would be unhappy if Marc was no longer an important personage at Winchester, and if Darci was unhappy, then her father was unhappy.  Andrew respected and cared for his friend enough that he didn't want to see that happen.  But he also did not want to see all that he and his friend had worked so hard for over the years go down the drain because the wrong man was in a position that he didn't have the energy or desire to give his heart to.

Chapter Nine

September 2003 

"Wisdom comes by disillusionment." - George Santayana 

Marc stared at the words on the watermarked linen stationery in disbelief.  There could be no way in hell that he was reading what he thought he was.  That the entire last nine years of his life had been an absolute lie was something that he could not comprehend, could not possibly begin to fathom.  He sank down into his comfortable leather chair, his numb body barely even registering that he was sitting, and once again read the memo, written on Winchester Industries’ executive paper.

There it was, in plain black and white.  He had been a journalist once upon a time; the stark black words standing out so plainly on a piece of white paper had once been his currency.  But right now words utterly failed him – as they had failed him so many years ago when he had given up his boyhood dream.  He sat, the wind knocked out of him, the world around him reeling.  He felt as though the floor had fallen out beneath him and he was endlessly falling into a deep, dark pit.  A deep, dark pit from which no good could escape.

Chapter Ten

The Present 

"Betrayal can only happen if you love." - David Cornwall a.k.a. John Le Carre 

"Nature never deceives us; it is always we who deceive ourselves." - Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Darci was studying him closely now.  The longer she stared at him with those eyes, suddenly so flat and expressionless, Marc began to feel as if he were a bug under a microscope.  When she finally spoke her voice was that of a stranger.  “I knew that you had it in you to be an important and successful businessman, so I went about making it happen.”

Marc’s insides turned to ice, but he didn’t want to believe what he was hearing, so he simply waited for her to continue.

“I never understood what it was that drove someone like you, someone who so obviously loved the seductiveness of power and wealth, to want do something with his life that would never gain him entrance into that world.”

Darci paused and stared at her husband.  Marc thought it looked as though she was trying to gather the courage to continue what rapidly appeared to be turning into a confession of sorts.  After several moments of pregnant silence, she finally continued.

“So, I arranged to bring you into my world, not just by marriage, but truly into my world.  You were going to be a card-carrying member of that wonderful world of wealth and privilege because you were a success in it, not just married to it.”