I feel sick to my stomach. I am seated in my office at the factory; it’s been a while since I’ve been here. The cops finally returned my computer after having not found any evidence worth holding and after having copied everything off my hard drive, so I am tapping away on it. I don’t like what it is I am finding. I know Eddie is working down in the factory today, mostly just trying to reassure nervous employees who keep showing up wanting to know when we are going to have the place up and running again. Lucky for Eddie, that conversation has gotten easier in the past few days. We are going to be restarting productions in just a couple of weeks after getting the green light from police; we just have a few things to take care of in the factory –like inspecting other supplements for poison and cleaning all equipment that could have possibly have been exposed. At least, we are going to be getting the ball rolling again soon. I have my secretary call Eddie up to talk to me.

While I am waiting on him, I catch myself biting my nails. I don’t normally act so nervous, but today I am terrified. My sling is seated on my desk so that I can stretch out my sore arm. I can’t shake this horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach, and my conversation with Mrs. Lioness has me on edge. I have not been able to stop thinking about it. It’s been on my mind ever since our meeting, and I have done everything in my power to look for evidence to contradict her claim, but instead I have found something that makes her claim all the more plausible.

Eddie enters into my office, looking as annoyed as ever, “What?” he hisses. This has been his general attitude towards me for weeks now. Could he really be harboring so much hate towards me that he would try to fuck me over this bad?

I stand up and come around to the front of my desk, leaning against it as I speak, “We need to talk.”

Eddie crosses his arms, “About what?”

I don’t’ know where to begin. I take a deep breath, “I started doing a little bit of my own investigations, and I think I found something.”

“Really?” he perks up, “What did you find?”

I take another breath, trying to think of how it is I’m going to say this, “Eddie, do you hate me?”

He looks at me with a curious glare, “What makes you ask that?”

I don’t know what to say next. I decide to just throw it out there, “I noticed you had been clocking in a lot of extra hours in the weeks leading up to all of this.” I say.

“Yeah, so? You know I’m in debt.” He says. He looks really annoyed, but I don’t think he has pieced together what it is I am suggesting just yet.

“Yeah,” I say, “And you stayed after for hours some evenings doing factory clean up and working for my PR guy. You were alone here at the factory several times. And I noticed that a couple of different times our security system was down at that time. And I looked to see who authorized that, and it was you.”

“Well, yeah,” Eddie says, “You know our system has been on the fritz. I had a guy come look at it a couple of times. Remember? You’re the one who paid for a new system.”

I stand upright, “Just tell me the truth Eddie. Are you the one who poisoned my supplements?”

Well, that ignites something in him. He looks beyond pissed. “Are you fucking kidding me, man?” His arms come uncrossed and form fists down at his side, “Are you fucking kidding me? You think I did this?”

“Well-” I start to further explain myself, but he won’t have it.

“Screw you!” Eddie shouts and takes a rather intimidating step towards me, “I’ve always looked out for you, and you know it! I know I got pissed off at you about Tiff, but I know you didn’t know who she was. You really think I’d try to bring down your company because of it? Are you kidding me? Besides, what good would that do me? Seriously? You know I’m broke as shit right now! I need this job!”

“Yeah, well, you’ve been pissed at me for a long time –long before that shit with your slutty girlfriend.” I say, “You and I have not been the same ever since Dad died.”

“No shit.” He snaps, “I spent my entire childhood wasting away in this God forsaken factory, and Dad let me believe I would be CEO one day. Of course, I got pissed when he screwed me. And, man, I’m sorry, but yeah, I got pissed off that my loser little brother is living it up while I still have to clean up after him.” His voice continues to escalate, growing louder with each word until he is practically screaming, “I do everything for you! I practically run this company, and you have me working in the fucking factory! I know more about this place than you ever will! I should be the one sitting behind that desk, but I would never –and I mean never –do anything to take this from you! I wouldn’t! I would never hurt anyone. I would never try to ruin your life like this. And you’re a damn asshole if you think-” he shoves me.

When he shoves me, he gets me right in my right arm. “Shit!” I shout and reach up with my left arm and grip my right shoulder. “My shoulder is fractured, dumbass!” I don’t give him a chance to spit out an apology before knocking him across the face with the back of my hand. I bust his lip.

“You son of a bitch!” he snaps and grabs me by my hair and yanks my head downward, sending shock waves through my entire body –reminding me of every injury I had sustained during the wreck. I could beat the shit out of him. I knee him right where it counts, and it sends him to the floor. I kick him in his fucking head. “Fuck you!” I shout. Geeze, can the two of us not have a serious conversation without it escalating to a physical altercation anymore?

He stands up and rubs the side of his head, “Fuck me? Fuck you!” he shouts. “If it wasn’t for Mom cheating on Dad, I would be the one sitting behind that desk. Dad would not have even thought about leaving you shit because you are an absolute moron! You can’t even complete a product order without calling me for help. Dad might have loved you more than me, but he didn’t respect you. At least, I had that!” He punches me in my chest, and I retreat immediately. Damn it, if I wasn’t hurt, I know I would kick his ass right now.

I’m clenching my sides, and I start to cough. My ribs are killing me. He suddenly looks really calm, his eyes dart over to the sling lying on my desk, and he looks nervous suddenly. I sink down into one of the chairs in front of my desk because I can’t stand up anymore. My sides are throbbing. Today would be the day I did not take my pain medication. I hear a calm, apologetic sound emerges out of Eddie, “Are you all right?”

“Get the hell out of my office,” I say angrily.

“James-”

“No!” I snap when he tries to put his hand on my shoulder, “Get out of my office! You’re fired! Get your shit out of this building, clear out, and get lost! You’re fired!”

Eddie opens his mouth to speak while I attempt to get a hold of my coughing fit. He just backs away, a sad expression on his face. As soon as he closes the door, I lean over in my chair and moan loudly. I don’t want him to know just how back he got me. Every inch of me is throbbing. I need my pain medication right now. I’m not waiting around here. I call my driver and tell him to meet me out front. I might need to go to the hospital; it feels like it did the day I got into the fucking accident to begin with. Just when I was starting to feel better!

I leave the building, knowing that I did not mean what I said to Eddie about being fired. He knows that I’m sure, and we are both probably going to have to have one of those awkward brotherly moments where we apologize and move on, but for the time being I just want to put as much distance between myself and this stupid factory as possible.