Levi #4
I was never going to be my father, and I had never tried.
There were similarities, of course, what parent and child didn’t share traits and habits?
But I had another parent, one I had known for most of my developmental years, and still had the memories of.
I might have picked up a lot from Augustine over the years, especially when it came to dealing with people and business, but I wasn’t his completely.
I think he would actually be disappointed if I’d turned out to be a carbon copy of him.
“I guess I should just be glad I’m not you,” Will said with a hesitant shrug. “There’s no way I could handle all this. If I’m honest, I was afraid your dad was going to pick me to take over and have someone keep an eye on me.”
“Augustine isn’t going to hand over a quarter of The Family’s business to someone who hasn’t proven himself,” I said bluntly, knowing the comment might sting, but there was probably relief as well. “As to why he chose me. I can only guess.”
He smiled at that. “I think he thought you’d be good at the job.”
“That’s a possibility,” I said as I stared at the laptop and considered what to do next.
I already had a lot on my mind, and now Hugo had decided to add more for me to think about while I considered the future, both for myself and for The Family.
“I know I’m having dinner with the Lafayette brothers later. What else?”
“Oh, uh,” he said, sitting up straight. “Dinner reservations are at eight. I already have a car ready to take you there, unless you change your mind about driving. You do have a doctor’s appointment in the morning, by the way, so I wouldn’t stay up too late, but I can reschedule that easily enough, uh.
.. oh, you are supposed to meet my mom at some point today, too.
You just have to get back to her so she knows. ”
“How long will that take, do you think?”
“With my mother? That depends, is it business or pleasure?”
“I’m meeting with a woman who just lost her husband. I hardly think it will be pleasurable.”
“Well...she hasn’t had an excuse to enjoy anything lately,” he said, fidgeting with the arm of the chair. “She could probably use time that doesn’t involve people apologizing for her loss, or telling her she’s safe and covered by the rest of The Family.”
“Mmm, I understand the desire to have a break from the life you’ve been forcibly handed,” I said softly.
“You know your mother best. Arrange something over the next couple of days that would be enjoyable for her, and let me know. If there’s nothing for the next few hours, I’m going to be out for a bit. ”
“Oh...doing what?”
“Really?”
“Sorry,” he said, tilting his head down. “I guess I’ve gotten too used to being up to date with your business.”
It was hard to argue with that logic. “True. But this is personal time. I need to clear my head and think clearly if I’m going to be of use to anyone.”
“My dad liked to lock himself in his office and drink,” Will said with a chuckle. “But you don’t really seem like the sort to want that.”
“You would be correct,” I said with a snort.
“I’ve grown used to having time to myself over the years whenever I needed to clear my head.
It’s harder here, at least in the role I’m filling.
I would, however, appreciate having some of the wet bar items restocked if you could find someone to take care of that for me.
I do like a drink now and then, but not when I need to think. ”
“Okay,” he said, pulling out his phone. “Is there anything else? Should we tell people who might call looking for you anything specific?”
“Just tell them to contact me if it’s that important, but otherwise I’ll be back in, at most, a few hours. No one needs to worry about where I’m at, I’ll answer them when I get around to it.”
“Sure,” he said with a couple of quick nods. “I’ll pass it along to Reed. Do you need any... Oh, I guess you wouldn’t need any help getting around, huh? You’ve been here almost a month now.”
“That’s not quite enough time to acclimate. That said, you wouldn’t remember this because you were too young, but I spent a good sixteen years in this city before I moved to Portland to take on a bigger role within The Family.”
“Oh, I didn’t know this was your hometown.”
“It is,” I said, standing up and tucking the card and flash drive in my pocket. “I grew up not far from here, actually.”
“Oh. Is it a good thing or a bad thing being back?”
“Whether or not I’m happy about being here is irrelevant,” I told him with a shrug. “I’m here to do a job, and I fully intend to do it to the best of my ability. Actually, my goal is to achieve more than just simple success, aim high, that way even if you fall short, you’re still winning.”
Of course, if I did achieve more than just simple success, I would undoubtedly end up on Augustine’s list of people to do things in the future.
I had clearly already been put on that list, hence why I was here in the first place.
I didn’t want to stay on that list; I would prefer to go back to the quiet life I had before I was nominated to clean up other people’s messes and corral a bunch of egotistical assholes like Hugo.
The problem with that was there was no going back.
I might be able to go back to that role if I failed.
The right kind of failure, though, the kind that didn’t make me look incompetent or dangerous to trust, just enough to be demoted.
Except, I didn’t do half-measures, and certainly not intentionally.
I might want my old life returned, but that didn’t mean I was willing to sabotage what I had agreed to do, even if that agreement was under duress.
It wasn’t about loyalty to The Family or to Augustine, but I had never believed in doing a bad job.
Augustine had once said I had my mother’s work ethic, but I had inherited his perfectionism.
So no, I would not be intentionally making myself look less capable than I was, even though it might result in the return of the quiet life I had led before.
It was clear Augustine knew that if I were put to a job, I would do it with every ounce of effort and knowledge I possessed.
If I failed, it would be because of circumstances beyond my control.
I was stuck, and I would lose either way.
“Hold down the fort for me,” I told Reed as I passed by. “I’m taking a few hours to myself, you know the drill.”
“Call you only in the event of catastrophe, significant death, or if your…if Augustine shows up,” Reed listed off, catching himself at the last second.
So far, he was one of only two people who had caught on to the fact that I didn’t like Augustine being referred to as my father.
Sadly, Hugo was the other one. Reed tried to refer to Augustine by name when I was within hearing, but what he called him when I wasn’t around didn’t matter.
“Good, thank you,” I said as I walked out the front door and was reminded why one of the first things I’d ordered when coming into the building had been air ducts to freshen the air.
The smell of fumes, gas, and human waste had been worse in my childhood, but it was still no better.
The only difference was that regulations required factories and warehouses to contain their waste so it didn’t contaminate the water or ground.
I pulled out of the parking lot, not knowing where I was going, all I knew was that I wasn’t going to return to that hotel.
.. or anywhere near it. In fact, I had been quietly making a mental list of all the places I needed to avoid so I didn’t risk running into Dom.
That meant avoiding the neighborhood I’d grown up in, the hotel, and the blocks around it.
Of course, now that I knew Dom was in the city, it meant anywhere was a risk, but at least I could minimize it by avoiding our old stomping grounds.
“Oh,” I sighed as I drifted through the city mindlessly, letting my body take over the driving while I drifted through my thoughts.
It wasn’t until the car stopped that I paid attention to what was going on around me. I had driven to the far western part of town, where the cliffs made up a good chunk of the area. During the summer, they were a prime spot for tourists before heading further south to the beaches.
I wasn’t surprised when I realized where I’d ended up.
The cliffs had always held a fascination for me, though getting there when I was younger had been a chore.
There were no buses to the farther cliffs, so I had to walk for an hour or two, depending on the weather.
It was the cliffs at the very edge of Cresson Point that I had been fond of, mainly because they were less likely to have people ruining the ambiance.
Those furthest from the city seemed the perfect place for tourists; they were picturesque and striking, with their towering walls of rock and hard-packed dirt, and the way the waves crashed at their base, sending sprays of saltwater flying.
On sunny days, the entire base of the cliffs came alive with rainbows.
The problem was that, unless it was a warm day, the cliffs were often chilly, and several signs warned of the danger, so families tended to avoid them.
I imagined that they occasionally had social media influencers out here to show off the place and do something stupid for their followers, which would explain the new signs warning against climbing.