Chapter 2.33: Epilogue

     Emrys and Ochre waited in the dank, dismal room as the guards walked the prisoner from the holding cells.

     The door opened and Emrys got her very first look at her uncle in person.  Orange was not his color.

     "You look just like her," he said when he was seated at the table.

     Emrys nodded, "I've been told I look a lot like my mom."

     "Come to gloat then.  Tell me all the ways in which you'll be spending my money."

     "No," Emrys said simply and continued to look at the man in front of her.

     He fidgeted after a minute of silence. "Who's he?" he nodded towards Ochre.

     "Ochre Palette of the Palette Agency," Emrys said before Ochre could speak.

     She felt a small bit of satisfaction when her uncle's face paled at the mention of the agency.

     "That's right," she said, "my family is related to the Palette Agency.  And you've been keeping my mother prisoner for years."

     She leaned forward, "I could kill you right here and now and still walk out the doors a free sim."

     Joel flinched away from her.

     "But I'm not going to," Emrys said.

     "Why not?" he asked.

     "Because death would be too easy for you.  I want you to live and suffer."

     "I'm rich, even here how much suffering will there be," he bluffed.

     Emrys smiled and shook her head, "not anymore."

     "As the rightful Mulligan heir I have claimed my birth right."

     "Gonna list all the way's you'll spend my money now then."

     Emrys shook her head, "The entire fortune you have amassed in one generation, a fortune to rival ones built across generations, everything is gone."

     "What do you mean," he growled.

     "I mean that as rightful heir I've claimed your money, your properties, your stocks everything you're worked for as mine.  I'm going to sell it all.  And give the money to charities and grants to help the sims and the families you've hurt in your greed and arrogance."

     "You can't do that," Joel yelled and stood up.

     Emrys stood up and got in his face, "It's done."

     Ochre must have done something behind her because Joel turned away instead of attacking her like she expected.

     "My father didn't want Mulligan money," Emrys said as she walked away.  "He was preparing to sign it all over to you when you killed him."

     She stopped at the door and looked at him, "if you had just waited you would have had everything you wanted and no one could have argued."

     She left the room and Ochre closed the door behind him.  He nodded to the guards stationed outside the room as they walked down the hallway.  Once they were outside with the prison behind them, Emrys stopped and inhaled deeply.  She took a moment to appreciate the freedom she had outside those walls.


     Instead of going directly home, Ochre stopped at a plaza in Oasis Springs for them to rest before facing their family.

     "You okay," he asked when she pulled away from where she was resting against him.

     "Yeah," Emrys nodded.  She stood up and walked toward the fountain in the center of the plaza.

     "You don't want your uncle dead, do you," he asked from the bench.

     "Death really would be too quick for him," Emrys said.  "Like I said I want him to live and suffer knowing I've torn apart the empire he's spent his life and spilled blood to build."

     "Sounds like a fitting punishment to me," Ochre said settling into the bench.

     Emrys smiled and turned around to look at him.

     "Thank you for waiting," she said.

     "This was what you had to finish," he asked, remembering her words from that night in the hallway when he moved back home.

     She nodded, "Yeah.  I can put my father's memory to rest now.  I've ensured his killer will be punished and suffer for what he did."

     "You know Sienna's been arrested too," he began.

     "Has she?" Emrys asked with a questioning glance at him.

     Ochre smiled and nodded, "She was arrested at the same time as your uncle.  Dad let the Enforcer's know she claimed to be pregnant.  They did a test."

     "Oh?"

     "Yeah, "Ochre said standing up from the bench and walking over to her, "she's not pregnant.  Not with my child, not with anyone's.  She lied."

     "That must be a relief," she said looking up at him.

     "Very much," he agreed, cupping her face in his hands.

     Ochre looked at Emrys and waited until she met his gaze with her own steady one.

     "Em," Ochre asked, "would you like to get a cup of coffee with me."

     Emrys rested her hands on his chest, "I wondered when you would ask again."

     Ochre laughed and wrapped his arms around her, kissing her breathless.

                                                                                        

Random Rambling

   Closure all around.  Yay.