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I return his smirk. “You’re not forbidding me from seeing her.”
“No,” he agrees and his smirk slides into a devilish grin. “But your time here will be less and less your own. You and Jude have proven that you can handle more of the family business. So you’ll spend your days at UGC, and your nights will be with Jude, running the south side of Garden City completely.”
That was not on my future plate.
“When you say the south side of Garden City…” I start to say but then stop. “Work me hard enough that I won’t have time to obsess? That’s the plan?”
“In a manner of speaking, but also I need you to take this on slowly but fully.” He leans back in his chair. “The Yakuza and Bratva have been driven out of Bethlehem and Garden City. They have no toeholds now. All that empty property, all the businesses they held, need to be looked at, removed, or used.”
“I’ll be going from three school districts to half of a city?” I ask, and the pulse in my veins thrums harder.
“Over time, yes,” he says with a nod of his head. “Which means everything that will entail. You’ll not only be taking care of the darker side of our business, you’ll also need to oversee everything that is legitimate.”
“Does Mother know?” I ask, suddenly thinking of the dear woman finding out I’ll be overseeing strip clubs, night clubs, bars, brothels, laundromats, and everything else.
He nods. “To an extent, it was her idea. She knows you’re my heir, Adam. Just as I do. One day you’ll own everything that I control, except for most of the legitimate corporations.”
That was always the plan, at least in my mind.
“David will run those,” I say with a satisfied smile. “But I request we build up as much of a legitimate side as possible before he takes over. It will offset the things I will be taking care of. We can also do with a good public front.”
Tilting his head to the side, he looks at me for a long time. His eyes are trying to peel back my skull again to peer inside me.
“Stop it, Father,” I growl. “If you want to know something, just ask. You’ve pushed too much on me tonight. I’m not opposed to being blunt with you.”
Shaking his head at me, he smiles. “No playing chess of the mind, then? I do want to remind you that being blunt isn’t always the best policy.”
“With you it is.” I look right back at him the way he’s been looking at me. “We’re too much alike to bother with petty lying.”
“Do you truly love your brother?” he asks.
“Of course,” I say without hesitation. “I’m the yin to his yang. Neither of us would be worth much if we didn’t have the other to balance each other out. He’s little now, but I know him like I know myself. He couldn’t do the things I’ve done easily. If or when he finally does, it’ll break something inside of him. I’ll be there to make sure those pieces get put back together.”
I see what almost looks like sympathy in his eyes as he asks me about the man I murdered. “Do you mean Kenneth Warskow?”
I shrug my shoulders. “He’s simply one name on the long list of sins I’ve committed. I’ve made my bones, Father. It wasn’t a matter of if, but when.”
“Such is the truth,” he agrees. “I planned something similar to what you said about David and his side of the business, but I suspect I’ll need to adjust as we go forward.”
“You will, and I suspect one day David will need us both,” I say and stand from my chair. “If there is nothing else?”
“No. No, I think the day has had enough shoved into it.” He looks out the window. “I do believe Abigail left a gift for you. I had it delivered to your room.”
Nodding my head, I move to the door. Turning back before I exit, I see him staring out the window with a pensive expression. “Father, one last thing?”
Turning to face me again, he says, “Yes, Son?”
“You’re my real father, don’t forget that,” I say and leave the room.
I don’t know his reaction, but I suspect it makes him happy to know I truly believe that. The other man who gave his sperm to my mother was just a donor. He wasn’t the man I want to be when I grow up. If he wasn’t dead and most likely in little pieces, I would have him brought before me so I could flay the skin off him myself.
Quietly walking through the mansion, I wonder how it will sound two weeks from now. No more squeals of girls running through the halls. No happy steps echoing off the walls. Will the house feel as warm as it did when my beloved came to visit?
My heart pangs with pain.
Reaching up to touch the little dragon charm, I wince. There’s a heavy weight on my chest now, like a rhinoceros is sitting directly on my ribcage.
I’ve never felt powerless.
