Total pages in book: 147
Estimated words: 137176 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 686(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137176 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 686(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
“Not really. I didn’t even know he was my father until I was four and one of the maids who’d been cleaning me up after I’d snuck into the kitchen to scarf down some chocolate cake pointed him out and told me he was my daddy. Whenever I tried to talk to him, he’d say he had an important phone call to make or that he was late for a meeting.
“My grandmother used to have these monthly family dinners, but they were a sham. My father and grandfather never attended, so Mother Ashby was in charge. No one ever said a word, so I figured that’s what family dinners were. After I met you guys, I knew their silence hadn’t been out of respect for my grandmother. They’d feared her. The little kids would usually be excused right after dessert, so my cousins and I would play games in the house. One of my cousins once told me my grandmother was grounding our parents.”
“So she was the head of the family when your father and grandfather weren’t there,” I suggested.
“Yes and no. After the kids were sent out of the room, the dinner turned into an interrogation. She wanted to know what stupid shit each family member had done that could potentially stain the Ashby name. Then she’d fix it. I wasn’t sure how, but I’d outright seen my cousins and other family members engage in criminal acts like DUIs and drug possession, but nothing ever happened to them. No charges, no jail time. Just fodder for the tabloids.
“Before my grandfather died, I spent a lot of time with him, and I’d begun to think of him as my dad. I didn’t know my grandfather wore a mask like everyone in the family, so it was harder to accept the stuff Mother Ashby told me after his death. I couldn’t really make sense of it because he seemed different than everyone else. We spent nearly every weekend at the cabin…”
“The one you took me to,” I offered.
Cass nodded. I’d already heard the tone of his voice shift. He’d seemed disassociated when he’d talked about his father, but the mention of his grandfather held more emotion.
“Grandad taught me all about the forest and how to use the sun to tell what time of day it was. I learned about the different landmarks that would always lead me back to the cabin if I got lost, how to make a fire, and even trap a small animal if I needed to eat. Thank God I never had to do that,” Cass said with a chuckle. His smile quickly disappeared, leaving only sadness behind. “Those were some of the best times in my life,” he murmured.
I couldn’t help but shift closer to him and cup his cheek. He pressed into my hand for several long beats before straightening then coldly said, “Turned out it was all just another Ashby lie.”
“What—?” was all I got out before Cass continued on his own.
“After my grandfather died, my grandmother told me the truth about him and my father. They were both experts at coming off as good, fair-minded men, but they’d treated her like shit. Berating her, telling her to remember her place in the family, not letting her pursue any of her own dreams. She was expected to represent the perfect wife and mother of a family whose name was plastered on buildings all over the world. She’d become a prisoner within her own life. My grandfather and father had treated her like she was nothing but an employee. Actually, they treated her worse than their employees.”
Cass paused and took in a few deep breaths. It was clear that he loved his grandmother and was blaming himself for not having been able to protect her from her own husband and son.
“Mother Ashby said Grandad would go after her mostly at night when he got home from work or wherever the hell he’d been. They had separate bedrooms but no matter what time it was, he walked right into her bedroom and started screaming at her, even when she was already asleep. He pointed out every mistake or flaw in her behavior and appearance. My dad did the same thing when it was his turn to take over the Ashby empire. Both men cheated on their wives and ignored their children. The kids born outside of those marriages were ignored and their mothers were usually given a small amount of cash to disappear and start a new life. They had to sign a nondisclosure agreement to get the money. There were rumors that some of… some of the relationships weren’t consensual.”
I swallowed hard at Cass’s last words. They chilled me to the bone. If the rumors were true, his father and grandfather had committed felonies that came along with lengthy prison sentences. What if the police report involving Cass’s father had been related to nonconsensual sex? It would make sense that I’d been relieved of the file within minutes of it landing on my desk.