17. Drew
The nightmare called my life makes it hard to see past the despair to the light at the end of the tunnel. Is there any good in my life? There’s Bel, the saving grace in my life. The light. I have to do this for her. For my mother. I have to find something to stand for because if I don’t, then I’ll never be able to finish this. I’ll never be able to defeat my father and the demons haunting me.
The invitation I crumpled up and tossed at Sebastian the other day sits heavy in the pocket of my jeans as I walk up the estate stairs and through the front door. The house bustles with life, further proof of my father’s return to the house. Glad he finally decided to grace us with his presence, considering Mom almost fucking died.
I clench my fists in my pockets and march through the foyer and straight to my mother’s wing of the house. The medical suite doors that lead into her room are open, and I step inside. It’s busier than usual, with nurses rushing all around the room. I survey the small crowd of staff for the doctor I spoke to last time, but he”s not there. In fact there’s no one I recognize in the room.
Except him.
Nope. I turn and walk right out the door again and out into the hallway. If I don”t take a second to get my shit together, I”m going to walk right in there and punch him in his stupid smug-ass face. Hell, maybe I should anyway.
At this point, I”m running out of reasons not to. Mom is dying, and there”s only so much pain he can inflict on me before it becomes the same ole, same ole each time. Between his tender care and football, I know how to take a punch and get back up without a flinch.
The only reason he’s not dead yet is because I don’t want to risk my mother being hurt or her care being removed. But a person can only be threatened for so long before they have to take the risk. There is no risk without reward. This probably isn”t going to settle me for talking to him. Regardless, I”m here, and it needs to be done. I don”t want Bel at the meeting. Not surrounded by thieves, crooks, and criminals. People like me.
When I feel like I won”t gut him over my mother”s sickbed, I reenter the room.
This time, I pinpoint him immediately. His forehead is scrunched as he reads over a stack of documents. I tug the invitation from my pocket, smooth it the best I can, and walk over to the bed. One look at my mother’s sleeping form, and I’m riddled with guilt. Is she still in a coma? She doesn”t stir when I brush my hand against her arm. Fuck. I”ve been so stuck in my own shit I haven”t checked on her like I should have.
I step toward the bed, surveying the neatly tucked sheets, the hospital corner edges, if only to give myself a second to breathe and reel back in the anger threatening to pull me under. ”Why is she here?”
My father looks up, and while there is still an undercurrent of anger threatening to consume me and pull me into its dark web, there’s also this tremendous empty hole of loss.
The real reason I hadn’t checked on her or returned to the house has more to do with the information I discovered and less to do with my so-called father. I’ve been trying to wrap my head around the knowledge that if these two aren”t my parents, then who are? And why did they lie to me all this time? I glance down at my mother, and somehow, her betrayal hurts so much more than his. I expect him to lie to me, to hurt me, but not her. Never her.
His eyebrow arches, and he smirks. ”Finally decide to visit her, I see. She”d be touched by your care.” There’s so much mockery in his tone I want to punch him.
How dare he, after being gone all this time, doing nothing to help her? I grip the handles of the bed and let my icy glare wash over him.
”Are you kidding me? If it wasn’t for me, she would be dead. I was the one who took her to the hospital when her condition worsened and you were off doing god knows what. Why is she back? Her fucking organs were failing.”
He stares me in the eyes, his gaze penetrating like he’s trying to suck my soul out. Something squeezes tight in my chest. Is he trying to gauge what I know? Based on that assumption alone and the instinct in my gut, I keep my face as neutral as I can and give him nothing in return.
”Your mother needs routine and rest. She needs to be home with me.”
”With you?” I scoff. ”This is a joke, right? You act like you give a fuck about her, but you just disappeared off the face of the earth fucking whatever flavor of the week you were on. Glad you dropped Jackie, by the way. She deserves a shallow grave.”
He rolls his eyes. ”You”re being dramatic, as usual, Son.”
I flinch and push off the bed, refusing to let him see my reaction. I can’t give him even an inkling that I know more than he thinks. After a moment, I spin back around to face him. ”She should be at the hospital. It”s dangerous for her to be home. She can’t receive the complete care that she needs to get better here.”
His eyes drop down to the paper now recrushed in my grip. ”Where did you get that?”
I look down and remember the reason that I came here to begin with. I throw it at him and watch it flutter to the bed near Mom”s feet.
He doesn”t move but levels me with his stare. ”Why do you have the Arturo invitation?”
I wave at the paper. ”Maybe because Sebastian dragged me out of bed this morning to confront me about it? Three days for the annual meeting is all the notice you”re giving this time?”
He narrows his eyes and slips his hands into his suit pockets. ”The timeframe is always short on these things. We do this to minimize the chance of an attack.”
”And you decide to do this now when tensions are already running high between us and the Arturos?”
He sits up a little straighter, his pensive gaze swinging around the room. ”Can everyone please give us the room? We have a couple of personal things to discuss.”
Great.Here comes the beating for so much as expressing my opinion.
His eyes are hard and angry, and I meet them head-on. I”m done fucking cowering in front of this man...this goddamn stranger to me. It makes sense now. I always felt there was no way a man as hateful as him could be my father.
Once the medical staff finishes what they are doing and flee the room, two of my father”s goons step inside and close the door, locking us inside.
I don”t give the man the satisfaction of backing down this time. ”Things are tense because you decided to use and discard the Arturo princess. That”s on you.”
I clench my jaw and glare at him. This fucking asshole. ”Pretty sure you helped with that. I could have had her leashed quickly, secured mind and body, if you hadn”t decided she wasn”t good enough the second you saw her.”
He shrugs. ”Well, then she was nothing more than a server. Good enough to fuck, sure, but not be included in the family. You’ll learn, Son, women are only useful when you need them to be. Otherwise, they are nothing to us.”
I shake my head at the hypocrisy. ”And now that she”s the darling princess heir, she”s suddenly good enough to be included in business?”
He snorts. ”No, of course not. I”m playing Sebastian. If he thinks I care, if he thinks I”m including her, he”ll be content. It”s the disrespect he”s pissed about. Once I fix that, things will go back to normal.”
I scan his face. He”s fucking serious. He actually believes himself.
A laugh slips out of me, and I shake my head in disbelief. ”If you think that inviting Bel to a fucking party is enough to placate Sebastian, you don’t know shit about him. He won”t stop until you”re eviscerated on his table and he”s winding your entrails around his fork. If he accepts the invitation and shows up, it will be only long enough to tell you to go fuck yourself while he secures the rest of your allies at his side. He”s ruthless, cunning, and once slighted, he doesn”t forgive. Ever.”
My father pushes from his seat and skirts the bed casually. I feel his guards closing in on my back. Ah, I must have said something that hit a nerve. Normal if you ask me. Such a fragile ego he has. I can’t wait to destroy him.
One of the guards” meaty paws wraps around my upper arm, and I jerk free. ”Don”t fucking touch me. I”m done being a punching bag for any of you.”
The other guard moves to grab me, but I duck out of his hold. And right into my father”s fist. It comes at my face, and I barely have time to shift so his knuckles glance off my jaw. Pain zings along my lips and neck, up into my temple. Fuck this guy.
I stand up straight and glare right back at him, meeting his eyes. Then I do something I haven’t tried since I was a scrawny kid thinking I was a man. I lash out, and my fist hits him right under the chin.
”Hmm,” he says and spits blood at my feet. ”Did someone grow some balls while I was away?”
I know this game all too well. He’s baiting me, trying to draw me out, like he always does. My father waves the guards back and walks toward me, each step bringing him deeper into my space. ”You might be the big man on campus, but I rule here, in the real world.”
Before he can say anything else, I slug him again, this time right across the cheek. I feel the deep ache in my knuckles, letting me know I’ve probably fractured something, but I don’t even care. It feels good to see that flash of anguish overtake his face, even if it’s for a mere second. That anguish morphed into fear that soon becomes anger, that’s red hot matching my own.
He strikes back, planting his fist right in my gut, and I double over, trying to hold myself upright. Damn. I always forget how fucking fast he is. Just once, I want to be stronger, smarter, better than him.
Once I can draw breath into my lungs again, I stand fully, my fists curled. ”What do you want? Or is this just you proving a point, beating on me because you can?”
He grasps the bottom of his jacket and jerks it straight. ”Maybe a little of both. Maybe you piss me the fuck off when you open your mouth, Drew. If I want to hear your opinion, it”ll be with my gun on your tongue. Are we clear?”
Something in me wants to dare him to do it. End this little back-and-forth between us once and for all. Seb, even if he hates me, would make sure my father sees justice if he kills me. At least, I think he would. Bel certainly would.
I don”t answer, and my father steps closer, getting in my face. ”Are we clear?”
”If you want me dead, then fucking kill me, but we aren”t doing this anymore.”
His eyes are slits, and his spittle hits my face as he whispers low and fierce, ”We will do anything I damn well want to do. I”ll lay you down right here, shoot you in the head, and put you in a bed just like your mother. Keep you alive with absolutely no control, no care except my mercy. How would you like that?”
I shrug, even as my heart hammers into my ribs. ”I”d rather be dead if it”s all the same to you.”
His arm pulls back, and his fist comes flying through the air. This time, I block it with my palm, catching it midair. Air stirs at my back, the guards rushing forward, but my father waves them away. We stare each other down, and he must see something on my face because for the first time I can remember, he takes a step back from me.
There’s so much power in that one single move. I can barely keep my breathing in check while I wait to see if he”s going to try to fuck with me again.
”Get the fuck off the grounds. You can come back for the meeting, as required, but I don”t want to see you again. You”re also banned from seeing your mother. If you show up here, security will toss you out. You have no business seeing to her care when I”m here. You want to be the big man and make the choices, you’ll do it over my dead body.”
I chuckle. ”I guess we”ll see how long it is until you decide to up and leave again, chasing another little piece of tail.”
His eyes are dark and malicious as he waves to the guards. ”Get him the fuck out of my house.” He pins me with another glare. ”Let”s see how your mother fares under this new spine of yours, shall we?”
The guards seize me, and I thrash, but there are two, then four, as they pretty much carry me out of the medical suite and outside to the driveway. The cool air hits my skin, and I fly through the air, landing on my ass on the pavement. I”m back up in seconds, watching as they retreat into the mansion.
I try to make sense of everything that just happened, but I can’t wrap my head around it. Did I just make the biggest mistake of my life, leaving my mother’s already fragile life in his hands entirely? I have no idea, but I do know that my time to kill him is dwindling. I need a plan, but I have few allies and even fewer people willing to go against my father. All I need is one person, though, and I have an idea of who I should ask. I just hope he says yes.