Chapter 7 - ZACH FINALLY WATCHES HIMSELF
Zach saw the full livestream three weeks later.
Not the edited clips online.
The complete archived feed.
Simone insisted Marie not watch with him.
Marie went anyway.
Zach sat in a conference room with his attorney.
Marie sat across from him.
The video began.
His first charge.
His grin.
“Scared?”
Marie blocking.
Evelyn screaming:
HER KNEE, ZACH!
Then Zach's low attack.
Still broken?
He watched his own face.
Not angry.
Enjoying it.
That was the part that destroyed him.
He paused the video himself.
“I look like Dad.”
Marie frowned.
“No.”
“Near the end. When he used to get mean in the gym.”
Thomas Gardner had never been physically abusive to his children.
But he had been cruel during training.
Humiliation as motivation.
Pain as proof.
Weakness as something to expose.
Zach had worshiped him.
Marie had spent years undoing that culture after buying the gym.
Zach had apparently rebuilt it inside himself.
He whispered:
“I thought you took everything from us.”
Marie stared.
“What did I take?”
“Dad's gym.”
“He lost it.”
“You still ended up owning it.”
“Because I paid his debts.”
Zach looked down.
“Mom always said Dad wanted me to run it someday.”
Marie felt tired.
“Dad said a lot of things when he was alive.”
“Did he ever say that to you?”
“Yes.”
Zach looked up sharply.
Marie continued.
“He also told me never to let you touch payroll until you learned not to spend tomorrow’s money today.”
Zach almost laughed.
Then cried.
Marie did not comfort him immediately.
Remorse deserved space.
So did consequence.
He eventually agreed to cooperate with investigators and testify about Evelyn's instructions and Vale's planning.
In exchange, prosecutors later treated his participation differently from Vale's alleged fraud scheme.
Not erased.
Different.
Marie also permanently banned him from coaching at Gardner Performance Lab unless he completed a certified safeguarding program, anger-management work, and a year without incident.
Zach stared when she told him.
“You’re firing me?”
“Yes.”
“I’m your brother.”
May you like
“I know.”
That was the point.
