Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 77857 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77857 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Because if we didn’t?
We’d be spackling up drywall later.
Like I said, Brad was better at it than I was.
Right now? As my father turns to me?
I see the beginnings of Red Joe.
Brock, we’ve got a problem.
There’s no drywall in the truck, but there are a lot of things he could put a dent in.
I can stay quiet and see what happens. Or I can ask the obvious question.
“We’ve got a lot of problems, Dad, but I can see you’re angry. Which problem are you talking about?”
I ready myself—ready myself against the eruption that’ll spew out in seconds.
So I’m more than surprised when it doesn’t.
Instead, he sighs.
“My father. Your grandfather. He made the Steel family what it is today.”
“I know that.”
“I’ve turned a blind eye to things over the years. Things I never thought would matter in the long term. After all, my siblings and I are all innocent. We were children when our father did what he did.”
I cringe inside. “Wait… You’re not telling me that the Steel family is built on dirty money, are you?”
“No. Nothing that can be proved anyway.”
My heart beats rapidly. “Nothing that can be proved? What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“Fuck,” he says. “We got complacent. Bryce and I got complacent.”
“Complacent about what?”
“Not so much complacent as… We just decided to keep some things to ourselves.”
“Meaning…”
“Meaning that we didn’t let Talon and Ryan in on everything. We didn’t let our wives in on everything.”
I curl my fingers into the palms of my hands.
Cool it, Brock. Don’t go off. Don’t go Red Brock on your father.
“In on what exactly?”
“Over the years, things popped up. Nothing that implicates any of us directly but that indicates that my grandfather and father may not have always been aboveboard in their dealings.”
“Will that affect the family now?”
“No, not in any way that will matter. Not legally. Our money is our money, and it’s all clean.”
“All that means is they may have laundered it.”
“No. Not that we can trace. But my father and my grandfather… Sometimes they used coercion to get what they wanted.”
I feel sick. If my fingernails were slightly longer, they’d be drawing blood in my palms. “What kind of coercion, exactly?”
“Stories have come out of the woodwork over the years about my grandfather, George Steel, and my father. Stories about them holding people at gunpoint, forcing them to do certain things.”
“But nothing illegal.” I shake my head. “What the hell am I saying? Holding people at gunpoint is illegal. It’s assault with a deadly weapon.”
“It is. And you’re right. It’s illegal.”
My father’s voice has an edge to it—an edge I recognize, and I wish I didn’t.
Red Joe has held someone at gunpoint in his life. God, I don’t want to know anymore.
“What else?” I ask. “Anything else illegal?”
“No, not that I’ve been able to ascertain. And mind you, I have no proof of this. Like I said, they’re stories that have come out of the woodwork over the years—stories I’ve shared with Uncle Bryce and no one else.”
“Why Uncle Bryce?”
“Uncle Bryce and I have been best friends our whole lives. He and I share a closeness that…”
“What? What kind of closeness? Why would you share something with him but not with your brothers?”
“Well, first of all, Bryce is family. He is my brother. He’s married to Marjorie. My sister. And he’s the chief financial officer of the company, and I’m the chief executive offer. We work together closely.”
“I know all this, Dad.”
“Right. I’m not sure how to explain it, Brock. I’ve told you about Uncle Bryce’s father. About what a psychopath he was. I was there when Tom Simpson ended his life. I was the last person who saw him alive. I’m the one who had to tell Bryce that his father was dead. And I’m the one who had to tell Bryce…who his father truly was.”
I gulp.
“Tom Simpson was a good father to Bryce. So this was hell for him.”
“What about Aunt Ruby? Her father was one of the three as well.”
“Right, but that was different. Aunt Ruby never had a good relationship with her father. It’s a long story, but he tried to molest her when she was only fourteen or fifteen. Aunt Ruby ran away. She lived on the streets for years.”
Oh God. I’m really going to puke now.
“The good news is that Aunt Ruby’s father didn’t actually complete the deed. She got away. But Aunt Ruby always knew who her father was. Bryce did not.”
My bowels clench. “I think I’m going to be sick.”
“Believe me, Brock. I’ve been there and then some.”
I can’t say anything. If I do, puke might spew out of my mouth.
“My point is,” Dad continues, “Uncle Bryce and I have a bond that in some ways is closer than the bond I share with my brothers. Tom Simpson was like a father to me as well. And my own father… Damn. My own father did not molest children. He did not kill people. He was a better man than Tom Simpson.”