When it comes to protecting my family, my kids especially, nothing is off limits.  There is no stone I will not overturn, there is no line I will not cross, and revenge… is a dish best served cold.  It feels like ancient history now.  I’d like to say that the fog of time has clouded my memory of the events in question, but I still see it as plain as day.  Tyler Norrie, better known as Cypher, worked his way into my life.  He’s responsible for saving my life and while I’ll never forget it and I’m forever grateful, what he did to Frankie later on can never be forgiven.  Not now, not ever.

Tyler is a man that uses everyone that gets close to him to benefit himself.  In that regard he’s no different than the thousands of wrestlers out there trying to make it in a tough business.  I knew what he was but nevertheless, I gave him the benefit of the doubt.  The guy saved my life so how bad could he be?  Right?

A couple years ago in OCW, I was involved in this little rivalry with a man named Easton Alexander.  As the head of that company at the time, my job was to build new stars.  Easton was my first project.  Don’t get me wrong, I was an absolute piece of shit to Easton, but it was all by design.  My goal was to push him so damn hard that he’d reach the next gear, that he’d climb to another level.  My goal was to toughen him up and get him ready for the OCW main event scene.

But what happened… was I pushed him too hard and rather than rising above all the shit I threw at him, he caved.  He caved, he broke and he betrayed himself and targeted my son Frankie.  After months of eating my shit, he kidnapped my kid to send a message.  Easton Alexander entered the Lion’s Den and he’s never been the same since.

I don’t tell you this to inflate my ego or pat myself on the back.  I tell you this, because it’s the goddamn truth.  I never took Frankie’s security lightly.  Not even on the road where by and large even my enemies treated that kid with respect and kindness.  When I was busy doin’ head honcho business, I had Cyrus Braddock stationed outside his door… but I let my guard down.  Easton couldn’t do it on his own.  He had help.  That help came in the form of a man that I foolishly trusted and as a result, Frankie trusted him too.  Tyler Norrie sold out a then 11 year old boy that loved him, that trusted him and why?  We still don’t know.

Betrayal.

It can never be forgiven.

3 Weeks Before Thanksgiving Day 2023

”Did you know Tyler is out of prison?” Lauren asked as she appeared in my home office doorway.

”Uhhhh, yeah about that…”

Lauren is a lot of things.  Great at many things, bad at some… what she’s damn good at is reading me like a book.

”What’d you do?” she asked as she entered.

”See… it’s a funny story…”

”Leander!” she shouted.  ”What!  Did you!  Do!?”

September 2023

It was a typical Wednesday afternoon at work in Lower Manhattan.  After a few morning meetings, it was lunch.  After lunch, I retreated to my office to sign a thousand different contracts.  About halfway through, I received a call from Robert Zane, my personal attorney that handles and fixes just about everything I dump onto his plate.

”Robert!” I greeted him after putting him on speaker.  ”You better have some good news for me.”

”Thad, this isn’t about that,” he replied.  ”I just took a call from an old friend and he’s looking for your help.”

”What friend?” I asked after a slightly elongated pause.  ”What do they want?”

”That friend is Mr. Norrie,” Robert replied to immediate silence.  ”He wants you to spring him.”

Initially I rolled my eyes and slammed my pen down on my desk.

”What would possibly make him think that I’d get him out?” I asked, almost rhetorically.  ”He can rot in there for all I care.”

”You really think he belongs in there?” Robert asked.

To which, I did not answer.

”You could get him out,” Zane began laying it out to me.  ”You can gauge for yourself whether a year on Alcatraz taught him anything.”

”And if it didn’t?”

”Ha!  That’s out of my hands, man.  That’s more your department,” he answered.  ”But what if it did?  Whatever else he is, he still saved your life.  So even if you’re not friends anymore, maybe you owe him this one.”

Sitting back in the big office chair, I sighed deeply as I considered it.  Me and my bleeding fucking heart.  After everything, I still want to see the good in Tyler.  I defended him.  A lot.  He’d get attacked from all angles and there I was, trying to defend my defense of him, telling the world that because I lived that he couldn’t be all bad, right?  That there had to be a sliver of hope that he could change, that he could be a decent human being and not the kind of guy that uses his considerable hacking skills to… hurt people.

”Thad?”

”I’m here,” I replied.  ”Was just thinking.”

”He meets with the parole board in three days so time is of the essence,” Robert informed me.

”You got a bead on which way the vote will go?”

”No, but I’m sure sizable campaign contributions will sway them whatever way you want,” Robert suggested.

”That’s illegal,” I chuckled.

”There’s nothing illegal about campaign contributions, Thaddeus,” Robert laughed.

”There is when you attach stipulations to it,” I explained.

”You can let me handle the dirty stuff.”

Leaning back in my chair again, I pulled the phone away from my face.  I cared a lot about Tyler.  I still do.  His betrayal hurt.  Thinking about it now, it hurts all over again.  He could’ve just betrayed me and everything would’ve been golden.  Sure, I’d have kicked his scrawny ass for it, but we could’ve buried the hatchet.  Instead, in order to betray me, he was the facilitator to Frankie’s kidnapping.

That’s not okay.  In no universe is it okay.  Frankie never does anything to anyone but was targeted because I was mean.  No matter how you slice it, that is fucked up on so many levels.

”Robert,” I said after putting the phone back to my ear.  ”Get him out.”

3 Weeks Before Thanksgiving Day 2023

”See?  Funny right?” I smiled sheepishly.

”Leander, this is the stupidest thing you’ve ever done,” Lauren protested.

”Well it gets better!” I said as she started to make her way from my office.  ”I invited him to Thanksgiving.”

”You can not be serious!?” she yelled at me.  ”I thought loyalty was like your biggest fucking thing, Leander!”

”It is!” I insisted.  ”That’s why I…”

”And what about Frankie?” she asked.  ”Not only did you get that moron out of prison, but you’re bringing the man that betrayed our son into our house!”

”I need to know, Lauren!” I raised my voice which I don’t normally do.  ”I need to know if he’s changed.  I need him and Frankie in the same room.  I need to know if Tyler has changed or if he’s the same piece of shit that he was when he went to prison to begin with!”

”Trust me Leander,” she continued her argument.  ”People like him just don’t change.”

”Babydoll,” I said as I stood.  ”I need you to trust the process.”

”What process?” she asked as I took her into my arms.

”If he’s changed, if he even attempts to apologize to Frankie for what he did, then he’s a free man,” I began to explain.

”And if he doesn’t?”

”Then we, and Frankie… will have our revenge.”

Thanksgiving Day

Telling Frankie that Tyler was coming to Thanksgiving was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.  It’s not easy to explain to a 13 year old boy that’s only somewhat aware of the things you do when no one’s looking, that you’re inviting the person he hates the most to dinner.  In the last two weeks or so, he’s been moody as hell with me.  I get it.  I understand it.  There’s a good possibility this was all a mistake and I made the wrong call.  But I need to know so that I know what comes next.

The closer we came to turkey day, the moodier Frankie became.

”Frankie,” I said to the boy as I was making final preparations in the kitchen.  ”Take that trash to the can.”

”Do it yourself,” he said as he helped Lauren peel and cut potatoes.

”I wasn’t asking, kid,” I said with a slight decibel increase.

”Fuck off!” he yelled out as he slammed the knife down on the kitchen island.

I was frozen in place for a moment.  On the inside, I was admittedly smiling just a bit as I awaited his incoming tirade.  Frankie is a kind person.  That’s just how he’s wired.  He’s bullied in school because he won’t stand up for himself.  It’s not that he can’t fight.  He can.  I’ve seen to it that he can fight if he has to.  He’s wiry, scrappy, and with carrying bales of hay and other work on the farm, he’s physically much stronger than he looks.  At 13 years old, he’s also developing into manhood, so the muscle he’s built is starting to become more defined.  He just actively chooses not to use any of it.

”You invited that dickhead here without even asking me, dad!” he began his tirade.  ”You preach loyalty all the time yet YOU betrayed ME by bringing him here!?  If you were any more full of shit your hair wouldn’t have that red tint anymore.

“It’s bullshit dad!  You’ve totally disregarded me.  You’ve cut me out of the process and you promised you’d never do that to me.”

I was so fucking proud of him that I wanted to scream.  Through all the things that have happened to him in his life, he’s at long last, starting to stand up for himself.

Later on at dinner, with Tyler and his girlfriend there with us for dinner, it was pleasant enough.  Tyler didn’t speak to Frankie and Frankie surely didn’t speak to him.  Initially, it was a nice time.  I caught Tyler looking at Frankie on more than one occasion.  Nothing stood between him and an apology to the boy that trusted him and loved him but air and opportunity.  Unfortunately, Tyler didn’t take it.

In my heart, I want to believe Tyler really is sorry for what he did.  I want to think that he had a valid reason for doing what he did.  But my brain is a lot more intelligent than my heart is.  There is no reasonable explanation that can ever rationalize betraying a child in that manner.

None.

”I have a toast,” Frankie said at dinner with a raised glass of faux champagne.  ”To loyalty.”

”Frankie,” I began to protest quietly.

”Let him cook,” Lauren said only to me with a squeeze of things she shouldn’t squeeze in that particular setting.  It worked though.  I wasn’t gonna interrupt again with her vise-like hand gripping my manhood.

”To Tyler,” Frankie continued.  ”The biggest piece of shit I’ve ever laid eyes on.  It takes an extraordinary amount of courage to betray children.  To great men like Tyler, you’re only as good as your latest sin and God has surely punished him tenfold for everything he’s done.

“You see, it takes a big man to target children.  It takes a big man too, to admit when he’s wrong and Tyler surely has done that this evening, hasn’t he?”

Frankie gulps down the faux champagne as if it were a middle aged man doin’ a shot of his favorite bourbon.  Lauren casually pours him some more and it’s clear to me that her and Frankie had this planned.  I couldn’t hide my happiness as a smile creased my lips.  I know Frankie is furious with me and he should be, but only because he doesn’t understand yet.  Soon, he will.  Perhaps as early as tonight.

”You come into my house Tyler,” he continued.  Tyler, naturally, says nothing and barely looks at Frankie at all during his rant.  ”And you had every opportunity to prove that you’re a changed man.  That your year behind bars gave you a new perspective on life and that maybe admitting you’ve made some mistakes in your past while resolving to be a better man.  You’ve had time and opportunity tonight to say ‘hey Frank, you know I’m truly sorry for handing you over to Easton and that chick he was prolly bangin’.

“But you didn’t.

“Because you’re incapable.  You’re incapable of love and being loved.  You’re incapable of being a decent human being because you’re too busy swinging your little dick energy all over twitter.  Superior design?  HA!  I’d laugh if you weren’t so god damn pathetic.

“Your mother should’ve swallowed.”

”Frankie!?” I called out.  I wanted to laugh so bad because I know where he got that last line.

”Save it,” Frankie said as he turned to me.  ”I’m goin’ anyway because I won’t spend another second in the same room as him.”

He took the last gulp of his faux champagne and rode off into the sunset.  Or… went upstairs to his room.  While I was able to contain most of my feelings during Frankie’s tirade, Lauren smiled the whole time.  I was simultaneously proud and slightly embarrassed by the whole damn thing.

Tyler and whatsherface didn’t hang around much longer.  How could they?  He was just berated by a teenage boy.  There’s not much to say afterward.  What can you say, really?  Even if Frankie was a tad misguided, he wasn’t wrong on the whole of it.  He had some things to get off his chest and giving him the freedom to do it was the right call.  I’m glad Lauren stopped me from stopping him.

Once they left, Lauren and I sat on the back porch.

”So what happens now?” she asked as we swayed on the glider with her head against my chest.

”I don’t know,” I replied.

”I thought you had this all planned out?”

”I did,” I agreed.  ”But I’m starting to think that maybe it isn’t my call to make.  Or yours.”

”Frankie?”

”At the end of the day, it wasn’t us that Tyler betrayed,” I reminded her.  ”He’s smarter, and a lot more mature than other boys his age, Babydoll.  Maybe it’s time I filled him in on all the things we don’t tell him.  Maybe we put the ball in his court.”

”You think he’s mentally ready yet?”

”I don’t know,” I said quietly.  ”But I think it’s time regardless.”