Chapter 35 – Liam #2
“Fine, I’ll admit it. You’re not even thirty and you act like you know it all.”
“Someone around here should know what the hell they’re doing,” I fire back. “You’ve been slacking for months now, playing golf and… other things during office hours, then blowing up at our employees simply to amuse yourself.”
“Don’t threaten me. I can yank your trust fund away as quickly as I did your sister’s, boy.”
“Go ahead. I don’t need it, and you know that. I’ve made my own money.”
“Oh, yes, I know. My son is so independent,” he says, sarcastically.
“You’re like her goddamn puppy. It’s shameful.
The handful of times I’ve seen you together, you trail after her with those pathetic, schoolboy in love looks which she rightfully ignores.
” Ouch . Dad still knows right where the jugular is.
“She’s just using you to get ahead and she’s too old-”
“She is not using me and she’s the perfect age for-”
“For what? Why are you so caught up in her? Does she give fantastic head or something?”
Enraged, I lunge toward him, knocking the bottle from his hands. He stumbles and falls onto the sofa. I grasp him by the tie, pulling our faces close while looming over him. “You will never speak of her disrespectfully again.”
“Just like Dean. Ready to hit your own father over some woman,” he spits, disgusted.
His words make me pause but not quite the way he thinks.
I won’t be like him. I’m not going to use my fists to express anger if I can help it.
That’s what he did. And look at him now, a pathetic, bitter man with nothing that really matters to show for his years.
Taking a deep breath, I release his tie and straighten.
“I consider being compared to my older siblings a compliment. Anything is better than being compared to you.”
“You can’t talk to me this way. My word is final around here.”
“Well, maybe it’s time that changed.”
“You’re fired!” he shouts.
“I’m sorry to disappoint you,” I say in a mocking tone, “but, you don’t have the power to fire me on your own anymore, Dad. Only the board can. Your drinking, your temper, your shady ways… you’ve burned a lot of bridges. Burned plenty of them with the board.”
Suddenly, his eyes widen with more fear than outrage.
He knows it’s true. He lost his only trusted crony after Ethan left his daughter at the altar.
His list of allies is growing thin and he can’t throw our last name around with the same weight he once did.
He stares at me like someone he’s never seen before, someone he fears.
I don’t want to frighten him or bully him.
He’s done enough of that to me. I just want him out of my life.
“Before I go, I’ll ask you to pass a message along to Mom for me. Tell her not to arrange any more dates for me. Oh and you’re going to be grandparents by the way. Juliana is the mother.”
His jaw drops. “You’re fucking kidding me.”
“No, I’m not. She’s going to be a fantastic mother to my baby and I’m going to do my damnedest to make her feel adored every day and be a better father than you in every conceivable way.”
“He will be. You do,” a soft voice says from just outside my father’s office, a beloved voice I know very well. Juliana peeks her head around the door and our eyes meet. “I was worried when you walked out that way, Liam. I thought you might lose your temper so I followed you here.”
She followed me here because she was worried about me. She may not be able to say she loves me, too, but at least I know she cares. She’s wonderfully caring and I can live with that if it’s all she has to give me.
We share a smile and leave him still sniveling on his sofa.
It’s not until the elevator doors close that we speak again.
“I can’t be sure about the board, Jules.
I may wind up canned. He can definitely yank my trust fund, and there’s not a damn thing I can do about it.
I suppose I can figure out a way to support us all. ”
She snorts, laying her hand on my chest. Between Sable and wise investing, I’m doing more than alright. We’ll be just fine, and she knows it.
“I’m sorry if it costs you business though, Juliana. You truly deserve every bit of your success. Don’t think for a second that’s because of me.”
“Well… I mean, any fool would acknowledge that being attached to your family’s company didn’t hurt, but it’s nice to believe that’s not all of it,” she sighs.
“It isn’t, honey. Maybe it gave you a leg up after you left Chad and his firm, but your work is talked about and admired because it’s good. Even if I’d happily go around talking you up simply to piss Chad off.”
“Thanks,” she says, chuckling. “That’s not what’s important right now. I care about how you’re feeling, Liam. I’m sorry that it went that way.”
“Don’t feel bad about it. I knew it might. I’ve been preparing myself for it since Ivy came back to town. It’s just hard being the last of us to let them go.”
The elevator stops, but she doesn’t step out yet. She hugs me instead and I’ve never needed one more. “What about your mother?” she whispers against my neck. “Is her fate sealed with his?”
I recall what I walked in on my father doing with his assistant and shake my head. “No… she’s not even half the mother you’ll be, but she’s better than him. She’ll be allowed a chance to know her grandchild. A very small chance she’d better not fuck up. Can we go home now?”
“I’d love to,” she agrees, taking my hand. “I’ve missed you.”
“I’ve missed you, too, honey.”
“I’ve missed you at night,” she says next.
I grin, appreciating her playful side. I need that as much as the earlier hug. “When we were texting yesterday, I promised to give you something tonight, didn’t I?”
Her eyes light up with wicked glee. “Yes, you did.”