Soft Pink [Epilogue]
As soon as Shaw got home, he got to work.
Although the newspaper article about the police closing in on the Guillory Family was no lie, predictably the organization remained almost totally untouched in the end. Thankfully though, it provided a convenient excuse for Shaw’s disappearance- as far as his mother was concerned, he sensed the tension and decided to go underground and wait it out.
Blanche Guillory had no particular response. She welcomed him back, and things almost seemed to return to the normal Shaw had gotten so used to before his escapade upon the Echo Express. But it wouldn’t remain that way forever. It couldn’t. Rather than managing his club and commanding his underlings, he spent making phone call after phone call, tracking down what records he could on the internet, and carefully making the preparations to finally start a new life.
With the time to leave finally upon him, Shaw took a deep breath and stepped into his mother’s office, a single pink, plush suitcase in tow.
“Mom, I’m leaving.” No matter what sort of speech he could have prepared, in the end, this was all he could say.
“Going on an adventure?” With no discernible tone in her voice, Blanche eyed his suitcase and took a drag of the cigarette that was always between her fingers. With her golden-grey hair pulled tightly into a bun with not a single hair out of place, fur coat, and gaudy diamond necklace, it was easy to see the influence she had on her son. Blanche Guillory was a woman that knew precisely how powerful she was.
“That’s right,” Shaw puffed out his chest slightly, feeling more like a child with every passing second, “And I’m not coming back.” Blanche only took another drag in response. “I appreciate all you’ve done for me. I’m who am I am because of you... but this life isn’t what I want. I’m going to start my own, without the Guillory name.”
Shaw looked as hard as he could for any small chance in his mother’s facial expression- the tiny crack of a smile, a wrinkle between her eyebrows- but to no avail. Rather, she paced slowly around her desk and reached under it to produce a silver, glittering pistol. He instinctively drew back, but before she could react she had effortlessly tossed into her free hand, gripping the muzzle and holding the handle out to him.
“Shaw, I knew from the day you were born... you would either be this family’s future, or it’s end,” Shaw took the pistol and felt its weight in his hand, “Don’t mistake this for a blessing, son. I pray we don’t catch you.”
Shaw nodded and turned out the door. “Maybe I’ll write you sometime.”
“Don’t bother,” Blanche didn’t even look back as she walked leisurely back to her desk. To anyone else, this may have been the worst kind of insult, but as Shaw saw the smallest, most obscure hint of a smile in his mother’s face, he knew that was only her way of saying that she knew he would be fine.
As he sat in his car outside the bar they had all agreed to meet at, Shaw made one final perusal of all the files he had gathered during his time at home. Most importantly were the locations of Allen and Roland’s families, along with a few public tidbits about their lives. He had attempted to gather information on the other passengers, but without their names this proved to be much easier said than done. Still, he did what he could.
As he stepped out, he felt his brand new ID nearly burn a whole in his pocket. He took it out for what must have been the hundredth time today and read over every bit of information. It was him in the picture, of course, but it wasn’t Shaw Guillory. Not anymore.
Ryan Kim.
Jonathan Kim had been his father’s name. Burying himself in his research, he also managed to find out more about his father than his mother had ever told him. He was a first-generation citizen, a banker before he met Blanche, with a completely clean criminal record.
Shaw- no, Ryan, stepped into the bar. Although he looked a bit different, he was immediately recognizable as the Strawberry Luxe that had strutted onto the Echo Express with entirely too many suitcases and bags behind him. He looked for 2 intimately familiar crops of white hair and waved the group down, his precious files already open as he reached them.
“Let’s get this party started, everyone~”














