- 14 hours ago
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:11Neil, kill me or I'll make you wish you had it.
00:28Sent to you.
00:40Master! We're here!
00:43I've just finished dinner with my childhood friend, Silas Vance.
00:47But when I'm about to leave...
00:50Hey, you're gonna pay for that, right?
00:52I refuse. I don't know him, after all.
00:56Fuck you, punk! You should be grateful I even let you pay!
00:59Veilgress, no one snubs Lund Group and walks away.
01:02Know who I am?
01:03Asher Hall.
01:04My wife, Coral Lund, runs Lund Group.
01:07Still feeling brave?
01:09I stare at him for a second, processing the absurdity, then dial Coral.
01:14So...
01:14You have another husband outside?
01:20Calling for help?
01:21You really think you're leaving in one piece?
01:23Ah!
01:26This is Lund Group's manners?
01:28According strangers for money, then laying hands on them?
01:32Manners? In Veilchrist, the name Lund Group is manners!
01:36I was doing you a favor to let you pay, get it?
01:39You wanna talk about rules?
01:40My word is the rule!
01:44Even Lund Group doesn't teach highway robbery, does it?
01:49I'm basically offering you a chance to climb the social ladder higher, idiot.
01:53People beg to buy me drinks.
01:55I just turn most of them down.
01:57Since when does the Gideon family need to grovel to anyone in Veilcrest?
02:01The richest heir of Havenport, capital of the country, never imagined a petty Lund Group could humiliate him.
02:08Let me get one thing straight.
02:10In Veilcrest, I, Asher Hall, am the law.
02:15Pin these fuckers down.
02:28Silas!
02:31Bastard!
02:34Stick your nose in my business!
02:36Today you'll learn Lund Group is untouchable!
02:41Asher Hall, I'm Coral's lawfully wedded husband, Elliot Gideon!
02:49That's Simus Vance, from Havenport!
02:53Let us go now, and I'll let this slide!
02:57Coral's husband? A Vance?
03:01You two must have lost your minds!
03:08Everyone knows Mrs. Lund's husband is Deputy Hale.
03:11Man, the lies people tell when they're desperate.
03:14Exactly!
03:15Vance family? Havenport? Never heard of it. Must have pulled the name out of thin air.
03:20Say you're her husband one more time, and I'll break your arm.
03:23I'll teach you the difference between real and fake.
03:26Only I get to say Coral's name.
03:29Only I get to claim her.
03:32Come on, so this marriage of yours is just for decoration?
03:35The guy's declaring himself her man right in front of you, and you're the cuckold?
03:52You dare hit me?
03:55You dare hit me?
04:02You hit Deputy Hale! You're DEATED!
04:10Damn it! Beat him senseless! I've never swallowed this kind of insult in my life!
04:22Everyone from Lund Group, tear him apart!
04:26They are! I'll take responsibility! Triple bonuses!
04:44Everyone! Freeze!
04:54Deputy, going here! What are you doing here? What happened?
04:59Detective!
05:03Detective Finn! These two outsiders are insane! They refused to pay their bill, then jumped us! Look what they did
05:09to me! And my staff! And my staff!
05:17What the hell do you two think you're doing? Brawling in public, assaulting Lund Group personnel? You've got balls, I'll
05:24give you that!
05:24He blocked us from leaving and threw the first punch.
05:28Lies! I was being generous, letting them bask in Lund Group's shine by picking up my tab.
05:35They flipped, then had the guard to claim one of them is my wife's husband, and the other's some big
05:41shot from Havenport!
05:48Doesn't matter who started it. You two did this damage, and you injured Deputy Hale.
05:55That makes it your fault. Let me spell it out. In Valegrist, nobody snubs Lund Group!
06:01Deputy Hale is Ms. Lund's man. Touch him, and you're spitting on the whole city's rules.
06:10Enough chatted! You're coming with us!
06:13Oh, and you're covering Deputy Hale's tab, the restaurant's repairs, medical bills, and emotional damages!
06:20Kneel and apologize! And maybe, just maybe, we'll keep it out of court!
06:25What the hell? He started the whole thing, and you're sentencing us without a trial?
06:30On the grounds that you're outsiders. You play by Valegrig rules here.
06:36Deputy Hale letting you pay his bill was a gift. Don't insult the gift.
06:42I'd love to see Valehurst's rules try to outrank federal law.
06:48Still got a mouth on you, huh? Guess you've never learned respect!
06:57Fine. You want the hard way?
07:03You're abusing your badges!
07:08Abuse? I'm enforcing order.
07:11In Valegrist, Lund Group's business is order. You punks need a real lesson in respect.
07:18Dogs with badges. You'll regret this.
07:23Regret!
07:25Save that for when you're inside, getting nightly reminders from the other inmates.
07:32Deputy Hale, how's that? Hard enough? Want me to dial it up?
07:36Crank it.
07:39They need to learn who runs this town.
07:45Deputy Hale, if you don't mind me asking, when's Ms. Lund due?
07:48Declan and I want to be first in line with congratulatory gifts.
07:52Absolutely.
07:53Please do grant us the honor.
07:55Maybe Ms. Lund will remember us when promotions come around.
07:58Four, five months.
08:00Doc says it's a boy!
08:03Coral.
08:05Pregnant.
08:06Two years we've been married.
08:08She always said the company was too busy for kids.
08:15I struggle to my feet.
08:17Declan sees the movement and drives the baton into the back of my neck.
08:21White lightning blinds me.
08:23Asher snatches up a chair.
08:25Then, quick and sharp, the click of high heels cut through the room from the doorway.
08:29Coral's gaze sweeps across the wreckage without so much as a twitch of her brow until it lands on Asher.
08:35What happened? Who hurt you?
08:38Asher instantly dons a wounded puppy expression.
08:41Thank God you're here.
08:43These two Lunaturks claimed one of them as your husband, then started swinging.
08:47They even hit the officers.
08:49Detective Finn scurries forward.
08:51Mrs. Lund, perfect timing.
08:54These out-of-tumpers picked a fight and insulted you and Deputy Hale.
08:58We're handling it by the book.
08:59Coral's eyes finally reach me as though I'm something stuck to the sole of her shoe.
09:05Elliot Gideon, I underestimated you.
09:08Six months on a business trip and you come back brawling like a thug?
09:12And the company you keep.
09:14Trashy friends who think Valcrest is their personal playground.
09:18Did you imagine Lund Group would just sit back and watch?
09:21I wipe her blood from my lip.
09:24Coral, let me ask you.
09:25Asher here claims he's your husband.
09:27He blocked my exit but demanded I pay his staff's tab.
09:30What exactly is that supposed to mean?
09:32Coral studies my face for two heartbeats.
09:35Then turns away.
09:37Detective Finn, please walk me through this in detail.
09:42Mrs. Lund, you'll be furious when you hear it.
09:45This guy marches in, spots Deputy Hale, and insists on picking up his table's bill.
09:52Says he wants to build a connection.
09:55Deputy Hale politely refuses, but this one take no.
09:59He starts bragging, cragging powdows about his money,
10:03claiming that it's an insult if the deputy doesn't let him pay.
10:07Exactly!
10:09We've got statements from the waitstaff.
10:11When Deputy Hale keeps refusing, this guy flips.
10:14He blamed the deputy for not honoring him,
10:17screaming that the deputy doesn't deserve you and Lund Group.
10:19Deputy Hale tries to reason, and bam! Fists fly!
10:23Pure fiction!
10:24He blocked us from silence!
10:27Speak here!
10:28If you hadn't fanned the flames, claiming Deputy Hale wasn't worthy of your money,
10:34none of this would have happened.
10:38Coral, maybe he just wanted to get on my good side,
10:41but this is too much.
10:43I simply wouldn't let him pay, and he lost it.
10:46Said he'd smash Lund Group and make you regret it.
10:50Coral's expression freezes over.
10:52Elliot Gideon, I didn't think you could sink this low.
10:54Want a curry favor? Fine.
10:56But throwing punches when you're turned down?
10:59Six months away and this is what you learn?
11:01Someone refuses your money so you beat him up?
11:03Have you no shame?
11:04I didn't.
11:05You didn't? The police have statements.
11:08Still planning to lie?
11:09You're beyond saving.
11:11So used to leeching off me that you try to buy influence,
11:15then throw tantrums when it fails.
11:17Why did I ever marry you?
11:21Coral, don't stress yourself.
11:24He probably just lost his head for a second.
11:26A second?! This is who he is!
11:32Detective Finn, proceed by the book.
11:34Full restitution, every cent.
11:36Let's see how he plans to pay.
11:38So cold, my throat tightens.
11:41In her mind, I'm already the parasite
11:43who forces himself on strangers to climb the ladder,
11:46then lashes out when rejected.
11:49Fine.
11:52You want compensation?
11:54Name the price.
11:56Five million.
11:57Can you scrape that together?
11:59It's more like you'd have to borrow even just 10,000.
12:06Five million, huh?
12:08Hold tight.
12:08Text my father, too.
12:10My phone's in pieces.
12:14Keep pretending!
12:15Five mil?
12:16With those rags?
12:17Enough stalling!
12:18Hands out now!
12:20When you can't produce a dime,
12:21you'll wish you'd cooperated.
12:22You want it rough?
12:23You've got it.
12:24Relax.
12:25The money's en route.
12:26Route?
12:27More like the ferryman's coming for you.
12:29Daddy bringing cash?
12:30Is he still pushing wheel harrows at some construction site?
12:34Last warning.
12:35Comply or else.
12:39They're here.
12:40On the street below, a motorcade of black sedans glides forward in perfect formation.
12:46In the distance, a helicopter, emblazoned with the Vance crest, slices through the sky.
12:52What the hell is this?
12:56The helicopter hovers above the restaurant's forefield.
13:00The convoy halts.
13:02Doors swing open in unison.
13:04Rows of bodyguards, black suits and white gloves, pour out and form two disciplined lines.
13:16Sir, are you all right?
13:18Master, I'm sorry for all this.
13:24Peter, did you bring the cash?
13:28Ms. Lund wants five million.
13:32Let's count it out for her.
13:42Oh, my God.
13:44Oh, my God.
13:47Oh, my God.
13:49Asher's knees buckle.
13:50He nearly collapses.
13:52Detective Finn and Officer Declan are sheet white.
13:57Miss Lund, the five million you demanded.
14:00Prepared in duplicate by the Gideon family and the Vance family.
14:03However, the watch smashed from my master's wrist, handmade in Italy, is worth seven million.
14:09Mr. Vince's suit, bespoke from Savin Road, eight million in damages.
14:14Medical fees and emotional distress, and the total comes to 20 million.
14:18We trust Lund Group to wire the funds promptly.
14:23As for these two officers, abuse of authority, assault on citizens, conspiracy to frame,
14:30those charges go straight to internal affairs.
14:32Oh, and you, inciting violence, intentional injury.
14:36Stack the counts and you'll measure the years and decades.
14:40Elliot, what is all this?
14:45When did you become someone who commands this kind of wealth?
14:51Back then, she stands outside the library in a faded cotton padded jacket,
14:56shoulders hunched against the cold, reciting textbook passages
15:00while clutching two cold sandwiches for lunch.
15:03I walk up and offer her a steaming cup of coffee, but she blushes and pushes it away.
15:08Only later do I learn she works several part-time jobs,
15:11tuition for herself and medicine for her sick mother.
15:14One night, her business plan draft is torn apart by the professor.
15:18She sits on the bleachers and cries.
15:21Let me ask my family for seed money.
15:23Let's get your company started first.
15:25Elliot, Gideon, who do you take me for?
15:27I'd rather starve than take charity!
15:30Especially from you rich kids!
15:31I'll stand on my own feet!
15:33I don't need anyone's pity!
15:35We fight bitterly that evening.
15:37She flings the bank card I offer to the ground,
15:40snarling that she hates silver spoon babies who'll never understand pride.
15:46From that day on, I never mention my family again.
15:50When her startup hemorrhages cash, I anonymously wire 30 million.
16:00When rival firms squeeze her, I have my father's friends quietly clear the path.
16:07She chalks every break to luck, never knowing each lucky break is me,
16:12holding my breath, lifting her from the shadows.
16:17But once Coral has money, she begins to forget who she was.
16:21She grows colder and bars me from every boardroom,
16:25terrified I might be after her fortune.
16:27I tell myself that once the company steadies, she'll see the truth,
16:31until she installs her own side piece.
16:40You never asked.
16:43You said you hated rich kids charity.
16:45Said you'd stand on your own.
16:47So I never told you.
16:53So, everything Lund Group is because of you?
16:56Doesn't matter now.
16:58You said you despised disloyalty, yet you kept a lover.
17:02You said you hated the strong bullying the weak,
17:05yet you let your people throw their weight around.
17:07You said you loathe the abuse of power,
17:09yet you watched these officers twist the truth without a word.
17:12Inform Gideon Group, pull every cent of investment from Lund Group immediately.
17:17Have legal draft the breach of contract notices.
17:25No! No!
17:27Elliot, you can't!
17:29Lund Group is my life's work!
17:31Without your funding, it'll collapse!
17:34Life's work?
17:35How much of that life's work is actually yours?
17:41Prepare the divorce papers.
17:42Follow the pre-nap to the letter.
17:44I leave with nothing.
17:45Wait, actually, correction.
17:48Trace every anonymous shareholding ingested into Lund Group.
17:51Those assets belong to Gideon Group.
17:53Reclaim them!
17:54Please!
17:55Understood, Mr. Gideon.
17:57Elliot, I was wrong!
17:59Give me one more chance, please!
18:00I'll cut Ash off today!
18:02I'll terminate the pregnancy!
18:04I'll-
18:05Don't bother!
18:06Your child, your company, your life,
18:09none of it concerns me any longer.
18:11Silas, silent till now, suddenly drives his heel into a nearby table.
18:16Solid oak legs snap like twigs.
18:18He rubs the burn mark the stun baton left on his arm.
18:22Now that your little soap opera's over,
18:24it's time to talk about the damage done to me.
18:28Seal this dump!
18:29Not even a fly leaves!
18:31Everyone who threw a punch laughed or cheered,
18:34no one walks out!
18:35And who kicked me in the gut?
18:36Who zapped me with a stun baton?
18:38Who said my old man pushes bricks?
18:41Find them!
18:41Now!
18:42Dammit!
18:43Every last one of you!
18:45If a single bastard leaves this restaurant on two legs,
18:48I'll eat my fucking hat!
18:50And these scum?
18:51Didn't they love swinging fists?
18:53Break their arms and legs?
18:55Then dump them in the Havenport fishponds!
18:57No!
18:58Mrs. Lund, save me!
18:59Coral, help!
19:06You want a taste too?
19:10She freezes, blood draining from her face.
19:13She may not know Havenport's hierarchy,
19:15but she knows men who arrive by helicopter are not to be trifled.
19:20Silas's men move like wolves.
19:22Within minutes, every guard who struts,
19:25every heckler, and the two officers are face down on the ground.
19:28The stun batons are confiscated,
19:30then rammed into Officer Declan's ribs.
19:33He screams, hurling like a salted slug, begging for mercy.
19:36And you?
19:38Wanted us beaten nightly in lockup?
19:41Well, now is your turn.
19:43Beat them until the bones sing!
19:45Leave them breathing.
19:48Screams, fleas,
19:49the crash of chairs, chaos.
19:51Coral crouches, hands over her face,
19:54sobbing, yet no one looks your world.
19:56I see the red rims of Silas's eyes.
19:58He's incandescent with rage.
20:00The favored heir of Havenport,
20:02zapped by small-town cops.
20:04That's uncomfortable.
20:06Enough.
20:08Don't stain your hands.
20:10Silas glances at the writhing pile.
20:13Today's their lucky day.
20:15Hand them to the proper authorities.
20:16Jail time, restitution.
20:18Miss a single cent,
20:19and their families can kneel at my gate in Havenport.
20:22He drags me toward the exit.
20:24Let's go.
20:25This place reeks.
20:26As for what follows, I mostly hear second-hand.
20:30Asher's fall is the most wretched.
20:32His Deputy General Manager of Lund Group title
20:36turns radioactive under joint pressure from the Vance and Gideon families.
20:40Lund Group issues a same-day dismissal,
20:43then sues him for embezzlement and reputational damage.
20:46The sycophants who once orbited him now trip over themselves to offer evidence of his abuses.
20:52Twelve years. Cumulative sentence.
20:54The officers fare no better.
20:56Files on their abuse and cover-ups land on the disciplinary committee's desk.
21:00They're suspended before sunset.
21:01Their precinct captain, desperate to save himself,
21:05leaks their rap sheets overnight.
21:07Dismissal, then criminal conviction for assault.
21:10Lund Group collapses faster than predicted.
21:12Partners flee like rats from a burning ship.
21:15The cash chain snaps.
21:17Rivals Coral, once crushed, swarm in,
21:20poaching teams, stealing projects.
21:22She begs old contacts for help, but they screen her calls.
21:26No one will risk the Vance family and the deep-rooted Gideon family for a sinking ship.
21:31Three months later, Lund Group files for bankruptcy.
21:34Coral plummets from cloud to gutter, saddled with debt.
21:38Word is, someone saw her under the Veilcrest overpass.
21:42Gaunt, a ghost of her former glory.
21:44The hecklers and thugs?
21:46Silas keeps them from the fishponds, but not from ruin.
21:49The attackers' arms are broken.
21:51They're shipped home, never to set foot in Veilcrest again.
21:54The jeering staff lose their jobs and land on an industry blacklist.
21:59No decent employer will touch them.
22:01They'll die remembering the carpet of cash and the thunder of rotors.
22:06Silas and I board the helicopter straight from that cesspool.
22:09Silas rubs his scorched arm, cursing Veilcrest's rumors.
22:14I stay silent, watching the city shrink beneath the clouds,
22:17feeling the last thread to Coral snap clean.
22:20Back in Havenport, the Vance family uses a business summit to publicly slap every Veilcrest circle that backed Lund Group's
22:28tyranny.
22:29Silas is nothing if not vindictive.
22:31Insult him, and the interest is always paid in blood.
22:34For me, Gideon Group's focus was never Veilcrest.
22:38Pulling out was a flick of the wrist.
22:40My father, hearing I'd been hurt, summons me home.
22:44Useless guy.
22:46While glaring at the bruise on my neck.
22:48Then he orders legal to slam the papers in front of Coral.
22:51They say she was signing bankruptcy forms when the envelope arrived.
22:55She cried until the ink ran.
22:58Tears won't help though.
22:59What belongs to the Gideon family will be reclaimed, down to the last scent.
23:04Six months later, I meet Silas at a multinational signing site.
23:08He's in bespoke charcoal, trading jokes with foreign CEOs.
23:13The scar on his arm is almost gone.
23:15He bumps my shoulder as I enter.
23:17Your Coral opened a corner grocery store in the suburbs.
23:20Still pregnant. Rough life.
23:22I initial contracts without looking up.
23:24Not our concern.
23:25He raises an eyebrow.
23:27After the toast, we walk out side by side.
23:29His Maybach and my Bentley are lined up outside.
23:32Night wind carries the scent of jasmine.
23:35Honestly getting tased in Veilvrest?
23:37Most humiliating moment of my life.
23:39Likewise.
23:40But lesson learned.
23:42Not everyone deserves our restraint.
23:44He pats my back.
23:45Come on.
23:46Would you like some drinks?
23:47My dad flew in a few cases of Lafotte.
23:49Consider that a belated freedom party.
23:51As the car pulls away, I glance in the mirror at the receding lights.
23:55I once thought marriage was two people marching in step.
23:58Now I know some only walk with you a short mile.
24:01Silas and I have longer roads.
24:03Brighter days ahead.
24:04After all, the man who can make us bow hasn't been born.
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