made him pause.
In the twenty years since that day, he'd read the letter over and over. Every word of it was burned into his consciousness, and sometimes his father's voice spoke the words in his dreams.
Dear Miranda and David,
By the time you discover this letter, I will be in a better place. A place where I am unable to further humiliate and burden you with my shortcomings. I have decided that it is better to take my own life than to see you continue to suffer. It was through my own pride that I brought our family to where it now stands, and I owe you an explanation for all that has happened.
I'm sure you remember the year during which I worked for Mathers Incorporated. David, I know that time was the happiest of your life, and I apologize for the struggles I put you through both before and after it. Being hired by the up and coming Mathers company was what I had always dreamed of. Since I was a boy, I'd thought that one day my creations would improve the lives of people the world over, and Mathers tech department finally made it possible. I applied for the head position on a whim, but my designs impressed even Emerson Mathers himself. I was, of course, overjoyed to be hired to the position. The salary was enough to bring us out of poverty, and I could finally do what I loved in an environment that provided me with unlimited resources.
For a year, I couldn't have been happier, and it is only those memories that have driven me to rise from bed every morning for the past five years. Unfortunately, Emerson Mathers was not the man I thought he was. He is a cheat, a liar, and a thief. I discovered that he was stealing my designs and claiming them as his own while I was turning out the prototypes in the lab. Patents that should have been in my name were under that of Mathers Inc. During the course of that year, while I was blissfully unaware, he stole more than ten of my most coveted designs. This was a man I had lauded and trusted, a man who had promised me an equal share in everything we created together.
When I confronted him, he fired me. He claimed that all the designs I had worked on in the lab were company property and refused to return even my own personal files to me. He issued a gag order that threatened what little funds we had left and you, whom I love more than life itself.
Emerson Mathers took everything from me. No company would hire me once he'd spoken with them. He blackened my name and tarnished my career, and I lacked the strength to keep on fighting him. I gave up. I failed my family and I failed myself. Now, I can no longer design, and I can no longer face you, David and Miranda, for my lack of courage. I can no longer ask that you support me with long hours or endure my drunken rants. I love you so terribly much, and what I am doing now is the best thing I can do to free you the burden that is my failure. Without me, thrive and live without remorse.
Your loving husband and father,
Lester
Emerson Mathers deserved to lose everything he'd worked so hard to achieve. His company had been built on lies, and he'd ruined lives for his own personal gain. He was a selfish, rotten bastard and if anyone deserved to give him his due, it was David.
Why, then, was he hesitating?
It was at points like these that he wished that he had someone whom he could discuss such things. Certainly, he had Marshall; but, while his friend was fully aware of all the tragic events of his past and present, he was pretty sure that if he mentioned to the man that he had signed on at Mathers Incorporated to carry out some insane-sounding revenge scheme, there
In the twenty years since that day, he'd read the letter over and over. Every word of it was burned into his consciousness, and sometimes his father's voice spoke the words in his dreams.
Dear Miranda and David,
By the time you discover this letter, I will be in a better place. A place where I am unable to further humiliate and burden you with my shortcomings. I have decided that it is better to take my own life than to see you continue to suffer. It was through my own pride that I brought our family to where it now stands, and I owe you an explanation for all that has happened.
I'm sure you remember the year during which I worked for Mathers Incorporated. David, I know that time was the happiest of your life, and I apologize for the struggles I put you through both before and after it. Being hired by the up and coming Mathers company was what I had always dreamed of. Since I was a boy, I'd thought that one day my creations would improve the lives of people the world over, and Mathers tech department finally made it possible. I applied for the head position on a whim, but my designs impressed even Emerson Mathers himself. I was, of course, overjoyed to be hired to the position. The salary was enough to bring us out of poverty, and I could finally do what I loved in an environment that provided me with unlimited resources.
For a year, I couldn't have been happier, and it is only those memories that have driven me to rise from bed every morning for the past five years. Unfortunately, Emerson Mathers was not the man I thought he was. He is a cheat, a liar, and a thief. I discovered that he was stealing my designs and claiming them as his own while I was turning out the prototypes in the lab. Patents that should have been in my name were under that of Mathers Inc. During the course of that year, while I was blissfully unaware, he stole more than ten of my most coveted designs. This was a man I had lauded and trusted, a man who had promised me an equal share in everything we created together.
When I confronted him, he fired me. He claimed that all the designs I had worked on in the lab were company property and refused to return even my own personal files to me. He issued a gag order that threatened what little funds we had left and you, whom I love more than life itself.
Emerson Mathers took everything from me. No company would hire me once he'd spoken with them. He blackened my name and tarnished my career, and I lacked the strength to keep on fighting him. I gave up. I failed my family and I failed myself. Now, I can no longer design, and I can no longer face you, David and Miranda, for my lack of courage. I can no longer ask that you support me with long hours or endure my drunken rants. I love you so terribly much, and what I am doing now is the best thing I can do to free you the burden that is my failure. Without me, thrive and live without remorse.
Your loving husband and father,
Lester
Emerson Mathers deserved to lose everything he'd worked so hard to achieve. His company had been built on lies, and he'd ruined lives for his own personal gain. He was a selfish, rotten bastard and if anyone deserved to give him his due, it was David.
Why, then, was he hesitating?
It was at points like these that he wished that he had someone whom he could discuss such things. Certainly, he had Marshall; but, while his friend was fully aware of all the tragic events of his past and present, he was pretty sure that if he mentioned to the man that he had signed on at Mathers Incorporated to carry out some insane-sounding revenge scheme, there
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