Terry Thunder
My best friend, Ricky Watson, yanked the oxygen tube from my nose as he grinned down at me maliciously.
"I guess there's no point pretending anymore. Remember those leaked files that cost you the promotion? I'm the one who planted them in that storage box under your bed."
Then, he slipped an arm around my wife, Andrea Gates, looking even more pleased with himself. "And that son you've spent the last 10 years raising?"
His grin widened. "He's mine."
Andrea slowly turned the gold bracelet around her wrist and looked at me with open contempt.
"I would've taken the kid and left you for Ricky years ago if you hadn't been so subservient to my needs and given me all your paycheck every month."
Her gaze swept over me.
"A loser like you isn't even fit to shine his shoes."
I stared at the two of them as rage burned through me.
Alas, I couldn't even force out a curse due to the lack of oxygen.
Years earlier, I had been in line for a promotion to Chief Engineer. However, that was also when someone accused me of leaking confidential company documents.
That single accusation destroyed my life.
It went on my record, cost me my promotion, and ended my engineering career almost overnight.
Still, I did whatever it took to support my wife and the son I believed was mine for the next 10 years.
During the day, I would haul rebar and equipment across construction sites. When night fell, I would stay up taking freelance drafting and design jobs just to earn a little more to support my little family.
I worked myself to the bone.
I wasn't even 40 when my heart finally gave out.
Meanwhile, Ricky stepped straight into the position that should have been mine.
He used the project proposal I had created to climb up the corporate ladder year after year until he became one of the most respected engineering directors in the industry.
I thought that was how my life would end, miserable and wrathful.
However, that was when I opened my eyes again.
I was back on the night before my Chief Engineer promotion interview.