**Revenge for Mum**
“Your daughter is with us. Bring £100,000, and shell stay alive. Ill send the meeting point later,” said a heavily distorted male voice.
“You how dare you give me orders!” Michael snapped, but the caller had already hung up.
Michael was known as a meticulous, cautious, and often ruthless man.
Only with his beloved wife, Sarah, and adored daughter, Emily, did he show any softnessand even then, not always.
If anything displeased him, he made sure everyone knew their place:
“Im the head of this household! I provide for all of you!”
And it was true. He had bought their home in a gated estate, his wife only worked to flaunt her designer dresses, and Emily drove to university in a brand-new car hed gifted her.
Yet his family sometimes forgot who was in charge.
He had to remind them when he found out Emily was dating a promising violinist named Oliver.
“Hes not good enough for you! You wont see him again!” Michael barked. “What kind of man scrapes a fiddle for a living?”
And the boy was scrawny, too. Some intellectual!
“Im going to marry him! Thats my choice!” Emily had a temper of her own.
“I raised youI decide!”
“Im 18, Dad, in case you forgot. Im an adult, and”
“Enough! Ive spoken!”
Emily ran off in tears. Sarah sulked for days, refusing to speak to him, but Michael didnt carehis word was final.
Besides, he had real problemsunlike his daughters tantrums.
His childhood friend, Dave, with whom hed built a successful concrete business over a decade, was stirring trouble again.
Theyd only just cleared their debts, built a solid team, and turned a decent profit. Why couldnt Dave just enjoy it?
But noalways pushing for expansion, new ideas. This time, Dave dug in his heels, threatening to split the business if Michael refused.
As if ideas alone kept the company running!
For weeks, things settled. Dave dropped his schemes, Emily attended uni quietly, and Olivers name never came up.
Then Michael spotted Emily arm in arm with some bloke.
“Emily! What are you doing out this late?” He slammed the brakes, glaring at the pair. “And whos this?”
In the dim light, it took him a moment to recognise the lad. When he did, his anger flared.
“Youve downgraded from a musician to a labourer? Trying to spite me? Get in the car!”
Emily scowled but made no protestuntil the boy spoke up.
“Who gave you the right to talk to people like that?” He lifted his chin. “Think your money makes you better?”
“You little rat,” Michael cut in. “You got one thing rightI *do* have money. And youre fired.” He turned to Emily. “Nowin the car!”
She shot her companion a warning glance*dont*then slipped inside.
Thats better. No one lectured *him* on life.
He *had* seen the boy beforea warehouse hand. *Cheeky sod.* Well, hed broken tougher lads.
Just when he thought hed restored orderwith Dave, with his familya week later, he spotted Emily again with that *same* ex-worker, Jake.
They vanished before he could confront them, but Emily faced a storm at home.
To his shock, Sarah sided with her. They called him a tyrant, said living with him was unbearable.
“Nobodys forcing you to stay!” he seethed. “The doors right there!”
And they left. Bags in hand, faces a mix of grief and scorn. *Fine. Lets see how long they last without me.*
Michael was certain theyd come crawling back. So when Sarah called a week later, he wasnt surprised.
“Michael, Emilys missing!” she gasped. “Two daysno calls, her phones off! Were losing our mindsshould we call the police?”
Ah, so theyd moved in with Sarahs friend Kate.
“No police! Come homeIll find her myself.”
He didnt actually know *how*, but involving the law was out of the question.
As he weighed options, his phone rang again.
“Your daughters with us. Bring £100,000, and shell stay alive. Location to follow,” the distorted voice said.
“You little!” Michael snarled, but the line went dead.
A video link arrived nextEmily, dishevelled, tear-streaked, wrists bound, but alive. She stared unblinking into the camera for seconds.
*Damn it.* Hed bury them alive. But he needed help. Despite their feud, Dave agreed to assist with the exchange.
“Shouldnt we call the police?” Dave hesitated. “And thats a lot of”
“No. *I* deal with this. And dont worrythe money stays with us.”
Michael was unshakableuntil they arrived at the derelict factory and saw Jake.
“You little!” Michael lunged, but Dave yanked him back. “Stop! We dont know where Emily is.”
Jake stood ten feet away on a ledge, smirking.
“Drop the bag there.” He nodded at a half-open sewer grate.
Michael glared but obeyed.
“Perfect,” Jake snorted, turning to leave.
“You think this ends here? Wheres Emily?”
“Relax. Shes fine. Shell call soonif she *wants* to.”
“Are you thick?” Michael snapped. “I *will* find you”
“Dont care.” Jake cut him off, jaw tight. “I did what I had toavenged my mum.”
“Your *what*?”
“Claire. Worked as your cleaner for seven years.” Jake forced calm, but his fists clenched. “She caught your wife in bed with another man. Sarah sacked her the next dayclaimed she stole.”
“Because she *did*”
“Bollocks. She just wanted her gone. Mum had no proofjust her word. Would you *really* have believed her?”
He swallowed hard.
“She had a weak heartraised me alone, killed herself working for peanuts. The day after you fired her, she collapsed in the street. No one helped. Heart attack.”
His voice cracked.
“If not for your family shed still be here. *I* wouldnt have ended up in care.”
“Now *youll* end up in prison,” Michael said coldly. “Howd you even plan this? Emily would *never* cooperate.”
Jake smirked. “She didnt *until* you pushed her. We planned it together. By now, shes moved the money somewhere safe. Youd have to arrest your own daughter.”
“What?!” Michael roared. “Emily would *never*”
“Maybe if you hadnt meddled, she *wouldve* told me to sod off.” Jakes eyes hardened. “But she loves Oliver. *Loves* him. Not that *youd* understand.”
“You little!”
“Or ask your *mate* about love.” Jake jumped on a motorbike hidden nearby. “It was *him* shagging your wife!” He sped off, weaving through debris.
Michael punched Dave. For the betrayal. For everything. Dave didnt fight back.
He divorced Sarah, leaving her only a tiny flat. The business stayed hished paid enough for her infidelity. She begged him not to report Emily.
He wasnt *that* much of a tyrantno police. But Emily never returned, dropping out of uni.
Rumour had it she and Oliver moved abroad. Maybe one day theyd come backwho knew?
