Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 72658 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 363(@200wpm)___ 291(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72658 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 363(@200wpm)___ 291(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
Theo rolled his eyes.
I pulled out one of the chairs and took a seat. “I just want to talk. Please.”
They stopped against the other wall, nowhere else to go.
Silence ensued, my father’s eyes shifting back and forth between Theo and me, unsure who was the bigger threat.
“Let me put it this way,” Theo said. “No one is leaving this room until you speak to your son.”
The fear in my father’s chest wasn’t enough to prevent what he said next. “This man is not my son.”
Theo moved from the door and raised his voice. “Sit your ass down.”
“Theo—”
“Now.” He yanked back two chairs and gestured to them.
Both of my parents breathed hard, looking at the chairs awaiting them. They trembled before they obeyed.
“Good.” Theo returned to the door and leaned against it again.
My father had his arm around my mother, trying to soothe her shaking limbs. They were so scared, they acted like they were hostages with bombs strapped to their chests. Neither of them looked at me, keeping their eyes on the table.
It pissed me off and made me feel like shit simultaneously. “I’ve never hurt you, and I’m never going to hurt you.”
My dad lifted his gaze to me, and his fear was quickly replaced by rage. “It’s taken five surgeries to repair my arm—and it still hurts like a motherfucker. It’ll never be the same, and that’s because of you.”
That did make me feel like shit. “I’m sorry that happened, but I had nothing to do with it—”
“Nothing to do with it?” Now my mother piped up when she normally held her silence, probably fully on my father’s side now that his arm was permanently injured. “You’re the reason your father was targeted. You’re the reason he was shot.”
“And in case you don’t remember, I gave in to his demands to spare your life. Even though you’ve treated me like shit for five years. Even though you’ve disowned me completely. And the price I paid for that—” I hadn’t seen her in six months, but her face remained burned into my memory. I had pictures of her on my phone, smiling in the bathtub, sleeping beside me in bed, but I never let myself look at them. “Was immense.”
“Not more immense than a broken arm,” my father snapped.
A painful smirk moved over my lips. “Trust me, I’d take your broken arm any day.”
“No respect,” he said coldly. “No fucking respect.”
“I saved your life, Father. So I’d say I do respect you.”
My mother kept her eyes down like she didn’t want to look at me.
My father continued to rub her arm.
Empty silence followed.
I wasn’t sure what I hoped to accomplish here. Our relationship was more strained than it’d ever been. “I’m really sorry about what happened. Truly, I am.”
They said nothing.
“You didn’t deserve that.” Dante had put the final nail in the coffin, and now there was no hope for reconciliation. I wanted to kill him for that, but I couldn’t do a damn thing.
“We didn’t deserve to have such a piece-of-shit son either,” Father said coldly.
“I really didn’t do it. She set me up because I tried to leave her.”
Both of them ignored me.
“I’m telling you the truth.”
“Even if you are telling the truth,” my mother said. “It wouldn’t change anything. Your father could have died because you’ve chosen this lifestyle. That’s completely on you. You’re a liar. You’re a criminal. You’re a murderer.”
“We tried so hard to have you,” Father said. “Endless doctor’s visits and procedures…and then we were finally given a miracle. But now I wish we’d just accepted our fate. Our lives would have been far better.”
I was a grown man roughened by life, but I’d have to be devoid of all emotion for that not to bother me. It was like a knife in an old wound, except this time, it went a little deeper than before.
I could feel Theo staring at the side of my face. Feel his angry glare burn my cheek.
“If I walk away from this life, can we try to reconcile?” I didn’t have much to live for these days. The one thing that gave me meaning had been stripped away, and now I realized how lonely I was.
My father’s answer was immediate. “No.”
“Never,” my mother added.
“If you really are sorry for what happened, you’ll take the check and leave us alone,” Father said. “Dismiss yourself from the trust and disappear for good.”
“Would you also like me to shoot myself in the head?” I said it in a defeated voice because I really believed that my own parents wouldn’t even come to my funeral. “Would that make you happy?”
They stayed quiet.
I nodded to Theo.
Theo hesitated before he stepped away from the door to allow them to escape.
My parents hesitated before they moved for the door, like it was some sick trap. They eyed Theo like he was about to pull out a gun and shoot them both. They crept toward the door, sticking to the other wall.