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“I thought we were meeting at the restaurant,” I tell him.
“We were, but I had to have a meeting this afternoon that brought me closer to this side of town. Why?” He pulls back and looks at me. “Your old man can’t stop by your job?” He looks over this shoulder at Uncle Josh. “You think your boss is going to have an issue with it? I used to beat his ass for fun when we were kids.”
Uncle Josh snorts. “It’s been a long time and your knees aren’t what they used to be, old man,” he scoffs.
“Still in good enough shape to best you.”
“Yeah right.”
“You two.” I laugh at their bickering. They’ve always been like this. My dad is the oldest out of the four of him and his brothers and he never lets any of them forget it.
“You and Samuel will be bickering like this for years to come, too,” my dad says of my kid brother. Sam’s only seventeen but I do give him shit every time I see him.
“True,” I agree. “Are you ready? I’m just finishing up a few emails.”
“Yeah, but first I want a tour.” He plops down on the chair in front of my desk.
“You grew up here. Why would you need a tour?” My father never came to work at the family business. He went directly from high school into the military, despite what my grandfather wanted. Then he went from the military into the fire department and has been there ever since.
Though he’s never worked at Townsend, he knows the company like the back of his hand. As the oldest, he was expected to take over the company when he came of age. As a result, he spent a lot of time here when he was growing up.
“Because I’ve never been here with my son giving me a tour. Don’t question your father. Do as you're told.” He gestures toward my computer. “Finish those emails.”
I shake my head, laughing. “You can’t boss me around in my own office.”
“Can and will.”
Rolling my eyes, I take my seat to finish my emails. Within minutes, I’m done and start showing my dad around the office like he’s never been here before. The pride I see in his eyes is uncanny.
Not for the first time, I realize how lucky I got when Carter Townsend became my father.
Lunch runs a longer than I expected, and ends with me promising my dad to bring Monique over to the family home for dinner soon. He wasn’t the least bit surprised when I told him we’re together. Not that I thought he would be.
Apparently, me and Monique are the last ones to get onboard with our romantic relationship. Once I finished lunch with my father, I had a few afternoon meetings that I took out of the office.
By the time I finish with work, it’s close to six o’clock. Which is the perfect time to head over to Monique’s gallery to check in on her. I know she’s there. Even still, I call her to let her know I’m on my way.
I leave a message when it goes to voicemail.
A trickle of concern moves down my spine. I do my best to shake it off as I head over to her gallery. Just because she didn’t answer her cell phone doesn’t mean anything’s wrong.
Yet, I can’t shake the feeling.
And as soon as I enter her gallery, I know my senses were right.
The bell that sounds overhead alerts Monique as well as the other man standing in the middle of the gallery with her that they’re not alone. My gaze lands on Gabriel Garcia Jr.
I’m barely able to suppress the anger that rolls through my body.
I’m gonna kill this motherfucker.
For his part, Gabriel Garcia is standing there with a fucking sinister smile on his ugly face. I plot exactly how I’m going to rearrange it as I stride over in his direction.
“Diego, hey,” Monique says, cheerily. “This is Santos and his friend. He said he was passing by and got excited to see a new art gallery opening up in the neighborhood.”
She gestures to the bastard on the other side of the room.
I blink as I stare at her. It takes me a second to realize she has no idea who this fucker is. She would’ve never met Gabriel Garcia or his other children. I never spoke of them because once I was adopted into the Townsend family, none of them were relevant to me.
