“Mister MacKenzie, please!” Daniel cried, stepping backwards slowly. Rob was being frogmarched forward by Alex, with Mirielle behind him. In the space between Daniel and Rob was the conference room door, where Phillip was standing, dumbstruck.
“You too?” Alex said, staring at him. The anger dissipated for the briefest of instants, replaced by confusion. “You too,” he growled. “You were in on this from the beginning!”
“Alex,” Phillip said. “This isn’t–”
“Shut it!” Alex snapped. “Don’t you ever come near my kid again! Don’t you let your little bastard kids near him, either!”
“Mister MacKenzie!” Daniel shouted. “You will–”
Alex pushed Rob forward, though from Phillip’s perspective, it looked more like he was using Rob as a projectile. Daniel stepped aside as Rob lurched forward; the boy did his best to maintain his balance as his center of gravity was thrown around by his father. “You bastards will be hearing from my lawyer,” Alex said, “and Willy Flay’s gonna hear about this too. Your scam ends here.”
As she was dragged past him, Mirielle’s eyes met Phillip’s. For the instant in which they were locked, Phillip understood exactly what he had missed while watching the interview. It all clicked. It was all so simple, all so clear now; Phillip didn’t have time to curse himself out for not recognizing it sooner. Mirielle blinked as she was yanked forward, and the contact was lost. Phillip nodded silently.
Daniel continued to chase after Alex, trying to get him to talk, but there was no reasoning with him. By the time they reached the lobby, Chloe was right behind him, and Phillip– still holding the coats– observed in stunned shock. The elevator had been left at the fifth floor, and Alex ranted as it descended, never so agonizingly slowly as it was doing so now. His rage was to the point of incoherence, and for a brief instant Phillip wondered if he was going to even bother to calm down before driving. The bangs against the metal gate of the elevator answered that question.
When the elevator shaft finally fell silent, Daniel sighed. “That could have gone better,” he said.
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