Tony’s Final Move

"The shares need to be handled," Mr. Wallace said. Mr. Chambers and Marissa Benoit, Mr. Carter's newly ex-wife who had recently been showing up to the plate and making memorable strides since taking her husband's position, sat across from him.

"I don't agree, we should drop them before they bring us down," Marissa argued.

"They've been with us longer," Mr. Wallace countered.

"Who cares about seniority? Another mistake from them isn't ideal. I say we liquidate their entire team and form a better one," Marissa crossed her arms. "A bunch of decrepit old men shouldn't be running anything this important."

"How dare you?" Mr. Wallace spat back.

"They should be booted into retirement!" Marissa slammed her fist on the table. Ever since she started coming to our weekly meetings, she'd been very vocal in changing things in the way she saw fit. She wasn't very agreeable and loved to argue with Mr. Wallace and Mr. Chambers, mostly just to annoy them. But she was a damn good worker—blunt and extremely efficient to a fault. I enjoyed her presence.

"Do you know all the restructuring we'll have to do?" Mr. Wallace asked.

"Too lazy, Wallace?" Marissa smirked, making Mr. Wallace turn red. Before they could go fully hysterical in their weekly argument, Mr. Chambers' secretary quickly entered the room and whispered something in his ear.

Mr. Chambers grabbed the remote from in front of me and turned on the news cutting the tension.

"...has committed suicide while serving his twenty-six-year sentence," the reporter said as a photo of Tony came up on the screen. "This morning Anthony Todd Jr, the former disgraced CEO of Todd Corporation, was found dead in his cell with a bedsheet tied around his neck at 2:45 pm Eastern Time, one day after a court uncovered new details of claims against him. Staff at the facility started life-saving measures, and Todd was taken to a hospital, where he was later pronounced dead. No foul play is suspected in his death—"

Mr. Chambers switched the TV off. "Let's silence the media on this topic for now."

"Why should we? We have no affiliation to him," I asked. Everyone at the table looked at me as if they were expecting something. Was there something on my face? "What?"

"With all due respect, don't you feel anything?" Marissa asked. "That's your brother."

It's frustrating enough that he couldn't hold on for a few more years, but why did I have to feel bad? I owed him nothing, and if anything, it wasn't fair to everyone he hurt. "Did he cry for me when he was told that I died? What about all of the actual victims that spoke out against him?"

"I'm asking about you," Marissa frowned.

"Why? We weren't close at all, and when you take the path he did, wasn't this outcome to be expected eventually? He was in pretty deep after all," I raised an eyebrow. "Is it seriously that weird?"

"You should at least bury him," Marissa said.

"That's for his family to do. I have my own family to worry about," I said.

"You were still born a Todd."

"But now I'm an Azure."

"Why so indifferent?"

"Do you feel anything when someone you don't know well or think about dies?" I asked. "If you care so much, you can do a memorial when you get home. We still have important life-changing work to get done and profits to make."

"You don't feel a thing? Nothing at all? Not even a little?" Marissa pressed.

If Tony had the courage to commit suicide, wouldn't it have been better to try and right all his wrongs and find a different way out of trouble? I knew I couldn't voice this thought out loud without causing more speculation from the other executives, so I just gave her a simple answer. "No."

I didn't even believe it was suicide, so why should I care? In fact, the entire thing stinks of Emily's involvement. It was only a matter of time before she came after him anyway to avoid him testifying against her in her next trail. I wouldn't be surprised if my dad was next.

The meeting concluded on a very awkward note, and I wasn't exactly sure why. Everyone left pitying me like I should've been affected by the news and acted as though I was putting on a brave front. Even Marissa dropped her business mask and gave me what I assumed was supposed to be a motherly hug.

When they had cleared my office, Jasper entered. Now here's someone who would understand where I was coming from and not project what they thought was right onto me.

"I've got you some tea," Jasper said.

"Tony committed suicide today," I told him.

Jasper immediately gave me a sympathetic look and a hug. "I'm so sorry, Sugar."

"Why are you sorry for me?" I asked.

Jasper took a second to scrutinize my face. "I don't really know. I didn't really know Tony and I know that you two never got along, but I thought you might feel sad about it."

"Why?"

"After the first time we visited him, you cried for about thirty minutes," Jasper explained. "I thought you might still care a little bit."

He was right, and I think I knew why I cried that day now. After that jail visit and realizing he was just trying to use the last lingering emotions I had towards him so I could buy his freedom, he was dead to me. I had already grieved losing Tony a long time ago, and I was pretty much over it by now.

"Well, I'm not sad about it now," I told Jasper.

"How about getting in touch with his next of kin—"

"Not my problem," I said. Besides, it's common knowledge that I was alive and his wife and kids have yet to ask me for my help. I wasn't going to deny them support as they'd never done a thing to me, but it didn't change that I wasn't going to reach out first. "They're probably supported by Titan Industries anyway. I don't want any possible contact with them."

"Then maybe you should see your dad and see how he's holding up?" Jasper suggested. "I mean, after the treatment you set up for him, I'd say he'd be pretty tame by now."

"Why should I do that after he did this to me? My arm still hurts," I rolled my eyes.

"Well, if you got closure with Tony, maybe you can get that from your dad as well," Jasper explained to me. "You know, forgive and forget for yourself."

"Fuck, I'll check up on him, I won't go visit him," I said. Jasper knows more about emotions than I do, so there must be something behind it if he's suggesting it.

"You're going to listen to me?"

"Should I not?" I asked, pulling out my phone.

"No—I mean yes! I think it'll be good for you!"

I dialed the Trunchbull and asked her about the status of the Todd family.

"Emily has gone in for facial reconstruction surgery," the Trunchbull said.

"Again? How is that even allowed?" I asked.

"She's really a special case and needs to be in protective custody. She isolated herself on the first day by acting like a petulant child. She throws tantrums because no one will listen to her. She does nothing but complain all day to the point we've had to cycle three bunkmates for her already. The other day, she spoke to the wrong person like she was nothing and an implant was punched out of her face. This was ass-covering surgery for the prison, Mr. Azure." The Trunchbull explained her position. "The last thing I need is another investigation at the moment."

"That would be best," I sighed. Tony's death was a high-profile one since his case was made high-profile by Emily, and this was a vulnerable time to discover the rampant corruption. Still, something didn't seem right to me. "Um, if it was ruled a suicide, why is there an investigation?"

"Just to find a clear motive. After all, he was connected to Emily's illicit activities up until he was jailed," she assured me. "Everything checks out, though, and was consistent with the news report you might've seen earlier. There's no doubt that it was suicide, he was probably trying to escape more prison time."

"So Emily had nothing to do with his death?" I asked.

"No, she has no connections here. She's actually worse off than a regular person," the Trunchbull said. "Her involvement is impossible."

"And Anthony Sr.?" I asked.

"He's not doing well at all. I've put him on suicide watch as well as called off your people for a while," she said.

"Well, that's good with me," I said. Jasper was right, I did feel better after calling to check on my dad. Knowing he was that miserable and unable to do a thing about anything was assurance enough for me. "Give him a new cell in protective custody and let him have Tony's ashes or something."

I still feel nothing about the news.