AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What the fuck is this I hear about you being in league with the Hill family and—andshacking upwith Bettencourt’s daughter?”
I wait, raising my eyebrows in a faux-expectant way.
He glares at me.
“Those things are both true. Was there more?”
“Was there—was theremore. Was there more? Do you have any idea what a precarious situation you’ve put us in?”
I put the cherry between my teeth before he’s finished speaking and leave it there while I make my eyes wide. “Me?”
“Yes, you. Joining in the Hills’ lawsuit. Agreeing to give a deposition. Turning over private records to the opposition’s legal team. What the hell were you thinking?”
“That wasn’t the opposition’s legal team, Father. That was my legal team. It’s a coordinated effort, as you seem to know.”
He’s turning purple. “Those weren’t your documents to hand over.”
“Oh, but they were. They had my signature on them. And anyway, the price was right.”
“Price?”
I laugh as if he’s made an absurd joke. “You can’t have thought I’d go to prison for you, Dad. Goodness. Isn’t that what you taught me, growing up? Always have a plan in place?”
“A plan to fuck me over?”
“Don’t be vulgar. A plan for self-preservation. I’m sorry things didn’t work out for you with the consortium, but if you’d taken your own advice—” I wave a hand in the air. “It appears you didn’t, so that’s neither here nor there. If it puts your mind at ease, I won’t be facing any charges, so you’ll be the only one to sully the Chambers name.”
“Where is yourloyalty?” I hope I never look this apoplectic when I’m older. It’s not particularly attractive on him. “Where is your sense of family?”
I drop the cherry pit and stem into a discreet wastebasket and take a sip of my drink.
Mmm. It’s perfect.
My father’s eyes follow the glass to my lips and back down. “You’re doing this to embarrass me.”
“Doing what?”
“Low-class drinks. These—these games in the press. Lawsuits.”
I roll my eyes. “You have…how do I put this delicately? Warped priorities. I would be more concerned with the fallout from the consortium’s business going public.”
“Most of that is sealed.”
“Not anymore, according to Mason Hill.”
One afternoon at Mason Hill’s penthouse was enough for them to enlighten me about exactly what my father’s business group had been doing. I found it sickening, to say the least.
It is, with no sarcasm whatsoever, a miracle that they’ve been able to come through it the way they have. It still hurt to see Gabriel finally dealing with all of it after a decade and a half. It hurts to know that I contributed to his pain.
And it hurt to realize that my own family wouldn’t quietly support me, were I to come to a similar heartbreaking impasse with my emotions. My parents would sooner have that kind of display out of sight and out of mind.
“I’m—I can’t believe—”
This truly is a perfect cocktail. “Give it up, Dad. The truth is coming out. Thewholetruth. Including the murders. Bettencourt’s a hot news item now because of his flashy escape attempt, but after they’re done destroying his legacy, who do you think they’ll turn to next?”
My father was so red before that his new pallor makes for a rather shocking transition.
“They can’t touch me. What you gave them—that was about Bettencourt, notme. I was a step ahead of him. Everything’s locked up tight.”
