As they left the limo on their way back from Disneyland, Manny and Gloria went inside the house, while Jay decided to go for a short walk, taking in the air of the night.
He loved the both of them, but after spending multiple days running around all over an amusement park while dealing with their antics, he needed to get away for just a little bit to remain sane.
There was no rush anyway, Gloria was exhausted, so there was no chance he'd be getting lucky tonight.
Manny also had no idea he owed Jay as much as he did, since he'd let Javier take all the glory...
But it was worth it.
Probably.
It certainly was nice to see Manny be a 'kid' for once.
Though he'd never admit it, he worried for the little bugger.
Sure, the whole 'refined' personality had it's upsides, but it was a little unnerving.
Plus, it didn't exactly forecast a particularly easy childhood, socially at least.
It was already bad enough he wasn't athletic, adding this on top was not ideal.
And for all intents and purposes, they were family now.
For Christ's sake, he was his son!
'He'll get better with time... right?'
Jay then felt something injected into his neck.
"Aww~ Look at you, trying to be a dad, adorable."
As soon as he registered the voice pop up just inches away Jay didn't hesitate to swing repeatedly with lethal intent.
Yet the target weaved out of the way effortlessly while they spoke, sly amusement written on their face as Jay eventually found himself placing his hand on his rapidly beating heart, catching his breath.
But... why had he started swinging in the first place?
'Good, it took effect quickly.'
Looking at the now empty vial inside the device in his hand, the kid pocketed it before throwing a black garbage bag at Jay.
And the moment he got a glimpse of what was in the bag and his eyes widened.
"Wh-"
"It's the $30,000. It took a bit, but we managed to recover the full amount and tie up all... loose ends."
Not believing it, Jay quickly opened the bag and started sifting through it's contents, only to see it really was full of what appeared to be the right amount of cash.
That didn't make any sense though, it's not like the funds were taken entirely in liquid assets, let alone in clean $100 bills.
Plus this was a 12 year old kid, how the hell did this even-
And then, just like before, Jay suddenly felt a bit lost again.
He still understood the gist of what was happening, but for whatever reason, he was... calm about it?
"That's it. See. isn't it better to be calm?"
"Don't worry, it's not like we killed him."
"We?"
"Some of your workers, but you wouldn't know their names."
"That dumbass friend of yours was trying to flee the country and converted all his assets into 'clean' cash."
"Unfortunately for him, just as he was about to leave his hotel room to evade law enforcement, he 'slipped' on the stairs and hit his head at just the right angle to cause a Cerebrospinal Fluid leak."
"It's a real tragedy too, security cameras caught the whole thing, no one else was even there, he just stepped on a small puddle someone forgot to clean up."
"I mean, sure, someone could have purposefully planted the puddle right there with the express purpose of hurting him, but that'd be crazy."
"The presumed culprit would have to not only calculate when and where the victim would step, but also how that'd make them fall."
"Completely unrelated, due to a brief local power-outage the security cameras were missing the exact 5 minute window when the puddle was made."
"That's besides the point, though."
"He's alive and healthy, promise, he's just mentally challenged now, and devoid any... problematic memories."
"Or any at all, actually, it'd be a miracle if he even learns to talk again."
"Worst part is, no one knows where he was hiding the money since it wasn't with him, it's like it just disappeared into thin air."
"Some say whoever he was colluding with must have betrayed him, but that's just a baseless rumor."
"And the police is already overwhelmed with other issues, so with no useful evidence being found, the case has been effectively dismissed."
...
There was a long silence after that.
Then as he was about to say something, Jay felt lost again...
"Listen, you finally deserve a break."
"And what would calling the cops achieve, tell them what exactly?"
"An accident happened, no leads were found, and the untraceable money disappeared into thin air."
"Don't you think it's a bit early to be going senile?"
...
"You're a brilliant man Boss, I'll give you that, but you did make one mistake."
"I mean seriously, how did you let so many self-serving incompetent bastards into your company for the sake of friendship?"
"For crying out loud, just look at this."
The kid then pulled a plastic zipped folder out of his work shirt and tossed it to Jay.
Before Jay could even open it, though, he continued.
"Inside there's a detailed breakdown of every blood-sucking parasite I've had identified at the company."
"Call it an internal audit, if you will."
"FYI, your buddy, 'Bob' I think, the one you're grooming to take over the company, he's been syphoning funds from the pension fund, $43,564 as of now, but give it a couple years and he might hit 50."
"Kind of rooting for him honestly, seeing as he made such a fool out of you you're even gonna hand him the whole lot on a silver platter~"
"And you wanna know the best part? That's not even the half of it!"
Hearing the kid mention Bob of all people, and more pressingly his intent to groom him to take over the company (something he'd shared only with his inner circle) Jay swiftly opened the folder.
"Pages 36 - 38"
As he located the data Jay couldn't believe what he was seeing.
This couldn't be real.
Right?
'Rat bastard! I even let my kids meet him, Claire called him uncle Bob!'
'Wait? What am I thinking-'
And thus he was 'lost' once more.
"The only thing you're thinking is that what you should do next is head into the office and confirm the data yourself."
"I swear, the fact this company hasn't fallen apart already is a miracle in itself."
"And this isn't a call to purge the company in one fell swoop, it's too rotten, if you do that now everything collapses."
"I'm just making you aware of where all the dead weight's hiding so you can ensure thing are handled delicately."
"I wouldn't want the company going to hell and lose my only source of income."
"Boss, I'll speak plainly, your workers are desperate."
"Why the hell do you think you get away with paying them so little?"
"You'd be amazed what they're willing to do, and who their willing to follow in the promise of a better future."
"Though, I must come clean, there was a little more than $30,000 recovered."
"Turns out your friend scammed more people than just you, but those expenses had to be used to reward the aids that made this all possible, I'm sure you understand~"
"Just stop and think about it for a moment."
"Everything else aside, once you confirm the data you'll know two things for sure."
"You live in a den of snakes."
"And you know at least one person capable of identifying them."
"So, what do you say?"
"You're the shots caller, I could never threaten that."
"But wouldn't it be nice? To know there's someone keeping thing in check without you having to lift a finger."
"I mean, think about it boss, you're not getting any younger, don't you want to spend every second of it with the people you love?"
"I think I've already proved myself more than capable, no?"
"Plus, like you said, worst come to worst, you've never met me a day in your life."
Every possible instinct within him should be screaming that this was probably the single stupidest thing he could ever agree too.
Yet, for whatever reason, he felt nothing but a mental fog.
It did sound nice, though.
Maybe it wouldn't hurt to spend a little more time with his family.
...
"Your name..."
"Liam."
"No last name?"
"No sir."
"Alright, assuming this is data's real, I can overlook... whatever the hell this is."
"Of course, boss."
= = =
"You're lucky that worked."
"Of course it did! I told you, the dosage was just right."
"I still feel bad about it..."
"I mean, he doesn't seem like a bad guy, he gave me a job, after all."
"Yea, and you're paying it back to him, nothing you said was wrong, y'know."
"Poor man deserves some time to relax with his family, you're just giving him the means to do so."
Taking the device out of his pocket again, Liam stared at the empty vial for a while.
"I hope you're right."