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“I’m glad you think this is so funny,” he says as he drops onto the maroon-colored sofa. As he props his feet up on the coffee table, I enjoy watching karma at work.
“Sit down,” he says in a fatherly tone, and my eyes narrow at him. I don’t move an inch toward the chair facing him.
“I’m here onmybusiness, not yours. If you think for one fucking second I’m going to just listen to you the way I did before, you’re wrong. You nearly killed the love of my life, and I will hate you for that until the day I die.”
He scoffs with a smug, bitter expression. “The love of your life? Give me a break, Adam. Just because you found a good piece of ass—”
“Stop it!” I bellow, slamming my fist down hard on the desk. Emotion bubbles its way up to the surface, and I’m done holding it back. Everything this man has done to my family in the course of my life has pushed me to this point.
“Why can’t you just be my father? Why did you have children if you never had the desire to love anyone but yourself? Instead of pretending to be a good man…why couldn’t you just fuckingbea good man?”
He stares at me without emotion, and, to be honest, I don’t know if he has any. Maybe that’s why he can stomp all over the people he’s supposed to love. He feels nothing.
I toss the envelope on the table in front of him and drop into the chair, feeling defeated. I came here trying to get through to him, but it’s clear I never will. The closure I want doesn’t exist.
“You couldn’t possibly understand how much I love Sage,” I say, the boom and anger in my voice dissolved. Then I look up at him. “The love of your life is your fame and success. It’s not God or faith or Mom or any of us. It certainly isn’t the twins and it sure as fuck isn’t Isaac.”
His jaw clenches and he looks away from me at the mention of my baby brother.
“But I’ll be honest. I thought for a moment it was me.” I hate how desperate I sound. Sad and broken, like a puppy that’s been kicked by its owner too many times. “And I lived to be your favorite. It’s all I wanted in life. In turn, everyone I care about got hurt. So I’m done.”
I let out a long sigh of relief. It feels like the chains have been broken, and for the first time in my life, I’m truly free.
“So what do you want then?” he asks, like not a single word I just said matters.
I laugh to myself before flipping open the envelope and shoving the deed toward him. “Sign it over to Sage. It’s the least you can do for her. After what you’ve done.”
He stares at the paper for a moment, but he doesn’t move toward it. I wait in anticipation. The sooner he signs the paperwork I’ve had drawn up, the sooner I can get the fuck out of here.
When he lifts his eyes to my face, my blood turns cold.
“No,” he mumbles, and I grow immediately frustrated.
“What do you mean, no? What the hell do you need with it now?”
“Adam, it does me no good to sign over a sex club to my son’s girlfriend.”
“Your reputation is already in fucking shambles. What difference does it make?” I yell.
“Listen,” he says through tight lips. “I’m going to prison, probably for at least five to ten years. I don’t want to see everything I’ve built run into the ground while I’m gone.”
My mouth is hanging open as I stare at him. “And?”
“And I need you.”
“Fuck you,” I reply with a laugh. “You expect me to help you? Have you lost your fucking mind?”
“I want you to take the church, Adam. Take my place. Head the ministry and turn it all around before those assholes give it to someone else. I want it to stay in our name. The people still love you, son. It’s not too late to turn your reputation around.”
I barely even notice when he stops talking. I’m just staring at him as I realize he’s finally saying the words I prayed for him to say every day of my adult life.
In my mind, I picture myself up there. At the pulpit, in front of the crowd, writing my own sermons, and hearing my voice boom through the mic as I deliver them. I see it all.
This is everything I ever wanted.
Myway.
He’s handing me the keys to the kingdom, and I’m still too stunned to even move.
