AllFreeNovel
Share Us
My father leans forward, removing his suit jacket, and when he is done, he says, “There are two types of men in this world, and it depends on what lessons they have learned that defines them. You have learned different types of lessons that makes you who you are. I have allowed you to do as you wish in return for you following my rules. What is it with this girl that you can’t seem to leave alone? It has been a long time, and you have plenty of fish to keep yourself busy. Stephen does what he is told, and I don’t want him giving me a headache. I know who she is, Ky. I’m not stupid, but your infatuation with this girl cannot interfere with business.”
“Who said it was infatuation? What does she have to do with our business?”
I’m confused about what Rubi has to do with what my father wants me involved in that affects him. I run the crew that pushes the drugs through West Park. Cesar is a two-bit drug dealer who does a good job keeping quiet and doing what he is told. They all answer to me, but when Cesar touched Rubi, something in me snapped. I was holding back sitting in the truck. Watching. I was putting the pieces together as to how they knew each other.
There is no way my father knows about Cesar and Rubi. Richard Reeves gives two fucks about the kids who have a fucked-up life and are sent into the foster system. To him, they are potential employees. The problem I have with Cesar is that he touched what wasn’t his to touch. The only thing that holds me back from slitting his throat is the fact that Rubi said he saved her from being raped.
“Rubiana Murray is the oldest child of Stephen Murray, and she is heir to his estate and since Caroline is unstable and had a little mishap taking more pills than she should have. She needs to sign a release that relinquishes her rights to his estate if he dies. He left a will that indicates he would leave everything to his oldest child. In this case, she is the oldest. She needs to sign it so she can leave it to her half-brother since that was his intention, but things are complicated now. How would it look if he asked that of her and she refuses. Do you understand?”
So, the plot thickens. “Is that the reason he showed up and took her in? So that she would find out later and didn’t sign she would magically disappear? She said she is leaving after graduation?”
I’m not letting her leave to go anywhere, but he doesn’t need to know that.
“And?” He volleys back with a grin. “What makes you think she will sign her stake of a billion-dollar empire once she finds out it exists and that she has a right to it. The court found out where Stephen was and would have told her who he was. If she found out, she could go after it. He never spent a dime on her. She is entitled to his financial support.”
“But I’m the bad guy. And Tyler?”
“Does what his father tells him like you and Chris do. Well, Chris and Tyler. You’re still a wild card, I’m afraid.” He picks up his drink and downs the rest, placing the cup down on the table with a clink. “Do we need to call the psychiatrist and have this mishap cleared up?”
I was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder after my mom and Rubi left. They think it was because of my mother that I became angry, but the truth was, it was Rubi. She meant more to me than my mother because we had more of a connection. I had more of a connection. An obsession they called it, but she was gone.
I ignore the psychiatry question and focus on more important matters. The subject of me leaving Rubi alone. That is not going to happen.
“So that is why Stephen took her in?”
My father raises a brow and responds, “Maybe. But I would have done the same, so it doesn’t matter. It’s done, and after the stunt at the pool, he thinks you were behind it all and he wants you to leave her alone for obvious reasons. He needs to convince her to sign the papers and not make it obvious his true intentions. There are stipulations in the company’s agreement Stephen signed when he thought it was just Caroline and Tyler. Rubi’s existence is a problem. A loose thread.”
I lean back on the loveseat and arch my neck and look up at the ceiling. “He wants her to sign over her stake before he agrees to let her go on her merry way, but he doesn’t know one little detail. Something no one knows. Something he never counted on.”
“What is that?”
I rest my head on the back cushion and flick my eyes to look at my father, giving him an impenetrable stare. “She’s mine.”
Rubi
IT HAS BEENthree days since I Ky has been in my room. I try to stay awake at night waiting for him, but I can’t stay up that long. I have even left a crack in the closet to see if he comes through the window.
I haven’t seen him in school either. It is like he vanished. But every night, instead of waking up in the closet, I wake up in the bed, so he is around. When I turn to reach for my phone to shut off my alarm, there is a daisy on my nightstand, but no note or message. It’s just sitting there next to my phone on the charger like a gift. A reminder. The second day I found another one, I even checked my cellphone like a desperate idiot to see if he put his number in, but nothing. The same thing happened this morning with the daisy.
I’ve looked for him in the halls at school and during math class. During lunch, I ignore the whispers and stares of everyone. I’m past caring what they think of me or what some of them saw at the party. I still find notes in my locker calling me freak, whore, and countless other names. I ignore all of it because what is the point. I can’t fight everyone. My focus is on Ky and where he is.
I wonder if something happened to him, and I don’t want to ask Tyler because all it will do is raise questions when he has repeatedly told me to stay away from him.
I haven’t told anyone that he sneaks in my room, and I don’t plan to because I don’t want to cause more problems. He annoys me. He excites me. He terrifies me. But most of all, no one knows we have a history, or that we have met before. And I want to keep it that way.
If I tell anyone that he comes through my window, they might think I’m stupid and crazy because there is no proof he has been in my room. If they confront them, he will probably deny it and make it worse for me at the house and at school. I’m still pissed off at him for the rumors and pranks. I’m not going to deny that I’m not, but I also cannot deny that I want to see him.
I am even tempted to jump the fence in Ky’s backyard to see if he is home, but then I remember that day I ran into him in his backyard and how well that went. There is no telling what mood Ky is in, or what he is really capable of.
I close my locker when the bell rings and I see Abby walk up to me with a smile. “Hey,” she says, walking up to me.
“Hey, what’s up?”
She looks at me with excitement in her eyes. “Are you going to the state fair tonight?”
I pinch my brows because I forgot all about it. I never really cared about the fair because I have never been to one.
“No. Why?”
