1 Prologue

Greed: an overwhelming desire to have more of something than is actually needed

Sometimes, when he couldn't sleep, fifteen year old John would sneak down the hall and stand in his parent's doorway. Listening to his father snore and watching his mother dream seemed to make whatever worried him slip away. It was the only time they were stationary long enough for him to get a good look at them.

John started this evening ritual upon hearing his mothers' confession. Yes, he and his brother James had a nanny while growing up. It was necessary since his father had gone from governor to senator. As the wife of a politician his mother had very little time for them. But she confessed to him that late at night she would watch her boys sleep knowing that everything would be alright.

So when John took up the late night watch he understood how his mother felt. Indeed everything was alright. That was until the first time he slept through the night. He woke up with the six am alarm reminding him it was a school day. As he made his way to the bathroom across the hall he could hear the maid coming in for her morning shift that would include his breakfast.

The door was locked. John pressed his head to it and could hear the water running. His twelve year old little brother had beaten him to the bathroom. He really had to pee so he danced down the hall to the stairs and headed for the bathroom on the first floor. That's when he heard the maid curse in her native language of Spanish. He tripped over a vase on the floor and slid into the wall. From there he could see into his parents' room. The next sound he heard was his own voice, he was screaming, and it wouldn't stop.

John crawled across the hall as James raced from the bathroom dripping wet wrapped in a towel. There was so much blood. The white sheets were stained red. Their fathers' throat was cut, his eyes wide with the shock that preceded his death. Their mother lay face down stabbed more times than either one of them could count. She reached out from the bed as if to beg mercy, the sadness forever written on her face.

The sirens wailed as the maid wretched the boys away from the grizzly scene. But not before it was forever etched into Johns mind.