Joseph stared at Tracy in disbelief.

"Everything you said to me, the dinner, all the tears, all of that was a lie?!" he demanded, anger welling up inside of him.

"Yes, and you fell for it quite nicely," Tracy replied, sneering at him.  "You are far too innocent and naive, Joseph dear."

Joseph glared at her.  He raised both fists and brought them slamming down on the circular walls of the glass case as hard as he could.  Nothing happened. Joseph looked down at his hands in confusion.  With his new strength that should have easily shattered the glass. 

Then, all of a sudden, he felt very tired and weak.  He dropped to his knees, one hand on the glass to support himself.

"Ah, I see the tranquilizer gases are already beginning to take their toll," said Adam, coming closer to the case.  "Good, then I think it's just about time to complete my plan."

Joseph raised his head up to look at Adam.

"What plan?" he asked.

Adam laughed.

"Oh, you didn't think I was just doing this all for fun now did you?" he asked.  "Now, let's start from the beginning, shall we?

"My father founded this company when I was just five years old.  He founded the company, built this building, built this tiny mansion here on the top floor and never came back.  I never knew my father, not until I was older.  My mother raised me as best she could by herself.  Sometimes my father gave us some money for food and things, but he usually put it all into his company. 

"My mother died when I was nine years old, and my father, not wanting to be troubled with me, sent me off to boarding school, where I stayed for the next nine years of my life.  My father didn't even want me to come back for Christmas holiday.

"When I came back from boarding school my father took an interest in me for the first time in my life.  I was now old enough to be useful to him.  He sent me to collage to study marketing.  This time I was allowed to come back over break, so we could talk business.

"I did not like my father.  He was a selfish, egotistical person who looked out only for himself and his company.  We got into several fights, and I decided that as soon as I got out of collage I was leaving New York and my screwy dad behind me.  Then I met Tracy.

"Tracy listened to my problems and presented an alternative to leaving everything behind and escaping a life in servitude to my dad.  She suggested I just remove my dad from the equation.  With my dad out of the way I could take control of the company.  For the first time in my life I would be in control.  I would not have to rely on others to secure my future, and there would be no one left to control me.

"Tracy helped me secure some toxins that we put into my father's evening whiskey.  He was dead by morning.  Tracy had one of her friends, a Mr. Titan, dispose of the body, and told all board leaders that my father was very ill and bed ridden.  He had put me in charge and I had handed things over to Tracy until I graduated."

Joseph shook his head, trying to wrap his mind around it all.  This was all just like some bad dream that he very much wished he could wake up from.