AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Dad squeezes my knee in comfort. “Thorin can take care of himself. And this is better than it being drawn out for several months.”
“It’ll play out that way in court,” King interjects. “But right now, the court of public opinion has shifted one-eighty into Thorin’s favor. With so many people backing him, there’s no way anyone will get off free without some form of punishment. And we’ve already taken precautions if that does happen.”
“Like what?” I want to ensure Donner doesn’t get off for what he’s doing, but there’s no way to guarantee that.
King snorts. “I can’t tell you.” He shuffles some papers on his side of the line. “Not that I don’t want to or because I don’t trust you,” he tacks on. “But Thorin specifically does not want to be aware of this and I understand that there are no secrets in relationships so to inform you would be unfair to his wishes.”
“So he knows what you’re going to do and agrees to it?” My skepticism is clear. Thorin would want to know whatever plan they’re concocting behind his back.
“Remember when we were at Aillard’s warehouse to pack up books and deliver them?” King huffs.
My eyes practically bulge out of my head. “You mean when Thorin explicitly told younotto do anything reckless or to risk your jobs?”
“Right, so we’re all on the same page then,” King notes.
I look to Dad in bewilderment, but he’s too busy silently laughing as his eyes ping pong back and forth between the phone and me.
“I will say this, if this is the type of support you’ll be getting in the future, then I don’t disapprove,” Dad shrugs, the traitor.
“But he’s going against Thorin’s wishes.”
“I’m workingaroundThorin’s wishes,” King interrupts.
“Like you did when you served me with divorce papers in the middle of campus?” I snarl, unable to stop myself from drawing a parallel even though the scenarios are vastly different.
Dad flinches at my words.
King mutters a curse I don’t quite catch through the phone. “First of all, I apologized for that,” King grumbles. “Second of all, are you going to bring that up every time I do something nice for Thorin out of the kindness of my heart?”
“Are you doing it to be kind or because you get to exercise your raging asshole muscle?” I counter.
King snickers. “Why can’t it be both?”
Touché. I’ve got to give it to King, he’s aware of his faults. Although I’m pretty sure where the rest of the sane world sees faults, King only sees potential in wreaking havoc. At least it does him some good as a fixer for the world’s elite.
A beeping noise appears on the other end of the line. “Donner will be escorted out in about four minutes. If you want to watch it live, it’s on Channel 4.” With that final comment, King hangs up the phone.
Dad chuckles, moving the phone back to the receiver. “I don’t think he’s ever said hello or goodbye to anyone.” Raising his eyes, he looks over at me. “Do you want to watch Donner being arrested? It might make you feel better.”
Sighing, I lean back in my chair as Dad moves to turn on the television set on the wall of bookshelves to our left. It takes several moments for him to flip through channels before he lands on the right one.
On screen, the flagship site for Donner Hotels can be seen with a few police cars parked out front. However there’s no one exiting the building yet, but the reporters can be heard all talking over one another in the background.
“...waiting on the arrest of Donner Hotel’s CEO…”
“...said he was the orchestrator behind the attempted rape of billionaire COO of Ravenscroft Hotels, Thorin Ravenscroft…”
“...waiting to hear back to see what exactly was issued for arrest warrants…”
“...with this many implications, Donner Hotels may never recover financially with their name being linked to such a corrupt individual…”
We continue to watch in silence as more and more can be heard, people crowding around to watch the downfall of someone the world has heard a lot from over the past five months. Soon enough, the cameraman zooms in as the doors to Donner Hotel open. Several police spill out, and in the middle is Gabriel Donner, a jacket haphazardly thrown over half his face.
I can see the sneer as he looks out at the crowd while trying to keep his eyes downcast. Nothing about the emotion on his face screams remorse. He simply looks mightily pissed off from being interrupted on a Wednesday morning.
Moments tick by, Gabriel is shown ducking into the back of a police car before everyone begins to drive off. The cameras pan to watch the patrol cars drive back towards their offices. Slowly the people around them begin to trickle away, the voices slowing down until the camera cuts back to the main live news where the anchors are located.
Dad turns off the television, swiveling in his seat to look back at me. “A little anticlimactic if you ask me. How do you feel?”
