The Jade Rubies

Less than five miles away, another man sat alone in his downtown office, his body bent over his desk. Despondent, he took off his glasses, rubbed his forehead, and stared blankly at his ledger. Althought lighted, the lamp offered no comfort -- only stark reality. Heartsick over what he had done, he wished at that precise moment that he was blind. He stared at gun he had purchased, and took stock of the scene in front of him on his thick, royal blue rug. Tears rolled down his cheeks. He gasped and watched the bright red blood of life drain from his beloved wife's body. He got up, bent over Rosie's body, and picked up the two jade rubies grasped tightly in her hand. He put them in an envelope and addressed it so that someone he trusted would somehow see to it that his daughters got them. It had come down to this, selling off all their jewels so that he would not lose face. Rosie had tried to help him, but it was too late. Everything was his fault. He had let her down. He believed that things would get better, but they never did. Now he had nothing. He had lost it all because of one man -- the man he couldn't find to destroy. He had been a fool. He had believed Wong Yuen Sik's words and all the time it was only words, empty words that meant nothing. It was a scam.