126. I Caught You

"Six months you've opposed my release case after case. I wonder how you'll compensate me for slandering me."

"Careful not make any threats. This conversation could be recorded."

"You came alone. That only means you are here to negotiate. Besides, your minions are not with you. I wonder why?"

Elric's mother had felt her heart racing the moment she knew she was going to face Mora's father. He had an aura around him that made her legs go numb and now that she was in his presence, she began to feel lightheaded despite the confidence she sturbbonly tried to push for show.

'Those bastards had every right to be scared but still...I have to do this! This is my only chance!'

"Seems like my daughter has achieved her goal."

"What goal could that be?" Elric's mother asked, pushing further the shrouding feeling of fear that was slowly creeping within her. There was a way Mora's father glared at her that she conjured an image of Elric gasping for air. She thought of how her last meeting with her opponent's accomplices described how his daughter had been killed by the man sitting infront of her... That image gave her goosebumps.

'Facing him alone...was I too confident?'

"That is between me and her, though I still hold the ace in my hand."

"I'm not sure what you are insinuating but if you wish to receive a less sentence you need to cooperate with me."

"Of course I will." Mora's father smiled then leaned back at his chair and Elric's mother glanced at his cuffed hands, a sense of relief surrounding her.

"Stop petronising me. I'm not one to jump because you barked."

"I'm serious. I'm loosing a lot of money and there is no prospect of me getting out soon. Surely you must how running business is without leadership. That is why I'm willing to come to a settlement."

"Your lawyers are finally starting to understand the situation, but I know you are simply agreeing for the sake of a mental health plea in future."

"You looked into my past. How did I not expect that?"

'He is teasing me.' Elric's mother could slowly feel fear begin to infest her again. 'He is toying with me! Instilling doubt bit by bit, distracting my thoughts with hate for him just so I can begin to stutter and within seconds, he'll control my every thought, snatch away my confidence and hope just so I can bend to his will... No, I won't let him dominate me!'

"Your lawyers are formidable and so I'm I."

"You won't have the last laugh as long as you are affiliated with my daughter. She is simply playing the pauper."

"We know you are a psychopath and so is Mora."

"So what? Should I be jumping with joy at your discovery?"

"Your daughter's psychopathy could have been managed but you fed into her desires and brought about instability in her personality. For the sake of cooperation which in the end will benefit you the most, try to see my logic and help us figure out her weakness."

"Her weakness? You mean her Achilles' heel?

'I'm not surprised he knows.' "You seem well informed."

"Of course. I trained her myself. I should know too since you deemed me a psychopath, right?"

"What is her weakness?"

Shrugging his shoulders, Mora's father said. "I didn't raise her to have any weakness to begin with. They hinder evolution if not stagnate it. Yet, despite my vision for her, her mother had to intervene and corrupt her brain with fantasies of wanting to fit in."

"Wasn't your intention to make her adapt in a normal society?"

"I trained her to camouflage, not crave for the attention of her prey."

"You really are a psychopath."

Mora's father's face turned sinister all of a sudden. "Why are you here? This meeting is meaningless."

"Do not dismiss my request to meet you face to face that fast. You wish to be set free after all..."

"Freedom is a state of mind."

Elric's mother felt tongue-tied. She hadn't expected to find her opponent very comfortable in his situation despite being locked up this long. Her hands began to feel sweaty and she did not like the feeling. It made her hesitate and so far, this was the second time she'd been caught off guard by her opponent's words. 'State of mind? He doesn't want to be free? Then why is he harrasing my team with his many lawyers?'

"Perhaps you should have allowed your subordinates to interrogate me." Mora's father sneered. "You look like you're contemplating on what to say next, and you call yourself a lawyer."

"I have your daughter within my reach. If we are to take in her statement for the things you have made her do more than half of her life..."

"I own the courtroom. I own the hospitals. I have done enough charity to warrant me pardon. I'm choosing to settle since I got bored staying here. This circus has goon long enough. I asked you before and I'll ask you again, why are you here?"

"I know your Achilles' heel."

"You do?" Mora's father didn't seem surprised.

"Yes. Your marker is your Achilles' heel. He wants you free. Why, I don't understand that part since you are a menace to society."

"I never denied my nature." Leaning forward, Mora's father placed his cuffed arms on the table and spoke. "Tell me something I don't know. This Achilles' heel you speak of, where is he?"

"You should be telling me that."

"...And how do I stand to gain if I reveal my Achilles' heel?"

'...Wait.., why I'm I hesitating so much today? Didn't I expect such a question?'

"See there, that brief silence is your reality of you wasting my time." Mora's father stood up, the guard behind him fidgeting at his movement. "My lawyers will contact you from here on. I agreed to meet you discreetly but perhaps I was mistaken about your level of intellect."

'...I need to buy time...' "Mora found her moral compass."

"What?"

"You finally take me seriously." Elric's mother smiled and was surprised when her opponent sat back down.

"I've been searching for that forever to the point of thinking that child was unredeemable."

"Why?"

"To eliminate it of course."

"Why would you do that?"

"She could become indestructible."

"You realize she is your demise. She hates you."

"Hate?" Mora's father chuckled. "Mora doesn't hate anyone or anything. I trained her myself and I know exactly what she is doing. It is you all that she has at the palm of her hands. She will be forever in search of a bond, a connection. A failed shell of evolution looking for a reason to have a reason to live or want to live. I can't guarantee as we speak, she believes to be surrounded by people she thinks care for her."

"There is nothing wrong with her wanting to make connections and control her desires."

"If you came here to tell me her Achilles' heel is to connect with others and has achieved that connection, then she is useless to me as she has always been. Or maybe, you do not know what her weakness is and are just bluffing, aren't you?"

"She will receive proper treatment from a trained professional. She won't commit any crimes..."

"The more you speak, the more broken she appears yet still, manages to execute the family she always wanted. So she wasn't lying when she visited me?"

"Visit? What are you talking about?"

"You are the one who came here to talk to me, yet here you are seeking information from me."

"She was not supposed to meet with you."

"You know nothing." Mora's father stood up again. "She hasn't found her moral compass. If that were true, she'd never reveal it."

Elric's mother glanced at the wall clock and back at her opponent, who appeared pleased with her defeated look. She wanted to expose everything to him but she knew timing was paramount. 'Perhaps an hour was too long a wait...'

"I like that look on your face. Make sure to have it when I slit your throat when I get out."

Elric's mother froze at the statement, sending Mora's father in a frenzy that the guard had to hold him down and push him back to sit until he calmed down.

"That's a figure of speech so don't let me scare you. Or maybe you could make a recommendation for a good psychiatrist to help me manage my psychopathy, huh? Your frightened look breaks my heart."

'I've had enough of this!'

"Your Achille's Heel...." Elric's mother stuttered, "...has reached out to us."

"Why should I believe you? You've been pulling my leg, staring at the clock one too many times."

"December 21st is your wedding anniversary isn't it? Not to your wife of course, that was for show, correct?"

Mora's father's face wore a hateful look, oozing out evil profoundly that even the guard standing behind Elric's mother took a step back in preparedness for any violent outburst. "Be careful. You are threading on dangerous grounds."

"I warned you not to take me lightly. I did my research through and through."

"You've gathered specific board members for you to get your hands on that information. Seems taking the life of one daughter wasn't enough. I should have eliminated his entire family."

"Tell me what you discussed with Mora..."

"I submit to no one..." Mora's father couldn't hide the look of confusion from his face at the sight of the door behind Elric's mother opening and a familiar figure walking in.

"How about to your Achilles' heel?" Elric's mother stood up from her seat and checked the time again. "About time you got here."

"Don't say a word. Call the lawyers immediately!" Mora's father yelled at the man who appeared puzzled and surprised.

"What's going on?" The man asked Elric's mother. "I thought you told him I was coming..."

Mora's father stood up abruptly, pushing the chair forcefully to fall behind him. "You should leave and not utter a single word to her until a lawyer gets here..!"

"This is illegal." The man panicked and looked at Elric's mother, who seemed pleased by the sight of her opponent loosing control. "I told you I'll cooperate but nothing illegal..."

"Cooperate?" Mora's father scoffed. "She is tricking you!"

"You asked me before why I kept checking the time. I was buying time, waiting for your lover to arrive."

"Why does he look agitated?" The man was about to reach out to Mora's father but the guard next to Elric's mother stopped him. "I'm pulling out. This is not what we agreed..."

"I had to stall him since you were taking long..."

"What's happening here?" Mora's father appeared to be directing his question to his lover. "Explain to me in manner I can understand..."

"You promised not to kill again. This lady and a number of people have shown me that you relapsed! They will help us..."

"Ridiculous!" Mora's father laughed in disbelief. "I told you to trust noone!"

"You said you won't act violently anymore for the sake of our son. That was the only request I made of you yet you've been lying to me!"

"Don't believe anything they tell you! This has happened before, remember?"

Elric's mother watched as the two lovers argued with each other, as if oblivious to the other three people in the room. She remembered how hard it had been to find her opponent's Achilles' heel. Pinning down those four men to confess had bore fruit for one of those men's confession provided her leverage.

'That man is a simpleton, naive and is controlled by him. They looked intimate and he seemed aware of the nature that monster. I only saw him once when I investigated him and that snooping around caused the life of my daughter. He threatened to kill my other child if I looked further into his life... I'm taking a big risk sharing this with you. If I loose my other child or get caught again, I promise that you'll need to worry about me too.'

"You let our son be tortured by Mora!"

"It was a learning experience for both of them! He had to accept who his sister is!"

"Mora almost killed him!"

"The final test for Mora was to find her moral compass and destroy it!"

"Enough!" Elric's mother banged onto the table, bringing the rage in the room to a halt. The air felt heavy and hot as everyone seemed to be panting from argument except for the two guards who appeared composed.

"I've seen two angry toddlers well behaved than you two." Looking at the man next to her, Elric's mother added. "You are here to help me convince him to get help. He agreed to a settlement with my team of lawyers however, we need his help to control his daughter and as promised, I'll deliver your son to you unharmed."

"What about him? Our son? I want him to get better too..."

"Are you stupid? He has committed numerous crimes and is a pathological liar!"

"He is my husband... I can't just abandon him..."

"Then you will be going to prison with him for acting as his accomplice. First, you scammed his wife, had a child and kept two birth certificates, knew of his crimes and never reported him, witnessed torture, offered him refuge and hid him from the authorities... He laundered money, committed forgery numerous times, murdered, blackmailed, bribed the authorities... You can't feign ignorance..."

"I was protecting him as his marker!"

"For how long? He knows what he is doing is wrong! You know he is a psychopath!"

"He was going for therapy every weekend..."

"He lied to you! That is what psychopaths do! How long are you going to play dumb? You fueled his violent tendencies and kept him hidden! What were you thinking? That you will cure him? He has no sense of morality!"

"Then why did you call me here if you were going to lock him up instead of him receiving help?"

Elric's mom felt agitated for having to explain the obvious. 'How is he such a nincompoop? ...But then, I wouldn't have fooled him into coming here if he weren't one.'

"Who is this man to you?" Elric's mother asked a fuming Mora's father.

"Allow him to calm down first. You're being too harsh on him..."

"Stop...speaking to her, and just call the lawyers. Can't you see you've been used?"

"She said she was going to help us..."

"You preyed upon his naïveté. This meeting was cooked and illegal to begin with so let's stop here. I'll cooperate. I give you my word."

"Your word? How can I trust someone who threatened to slit my throat the moment he got out?"