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I raise an eyebrow, not in the least bit surprised by her response. “I don’t know, Mother. I thought this little scandal might be of some interest to you.” I bait her.
“What in the world is that supposed to mean?” Her confusion is clearly written all over her face. She truly is in the dark, and I suppose it’s better for her… for now. Soon, there will be no escaping it.
“I’m sure Malcom will fill you in when he deems it time.” My tone is full of sarcasm and disdain.
“What has gotten into you, Andrew? This is not how you speak to me.” Her chest rises and falls rapidly. A slight blush crosses her cheeks. I’ve got her worked up, and it does nothing but make me laugh, which only agitates her more.
“I swear, something has gotten into you! You stop that this insistent!”
I only laugh harder, enjoying every second of her being uncomfortable. She may not be as bad as my father, but she turned a blind eye and never showed her three children any resemblance of giving a damn.
“What the fuck is going on in here?” Malcom’s booming voice echoes off the high ceiling and cold room.
“I was just asking Andr—”
Mother is cut off by Malcom. “Oh, hush, Katherine. I’m not in the mood for your nonsense tonight.”
Mom visibly gulps, and only then do my chuckles die. She may not be my favorite person, but I’m not a monster. I know how my father is, and I don’t wish his cold, barren soul on anyone, not even her.
“Andrew, we need to talk after dinner.” His tone leaves no room for argument.
It takes everything in me to not bite back, but I refrain, knowing I need to know everything he knows. Maybe he’ll finally slip this time and leave a clue. It’s never happened before, but we’ve also never been this close to answers before, either. He’s bound to slip up. He may be evil, but he isn’t a genius.
I give a quick nod of acknowledgement as the staff brings out the first course of the meal. My parents act like they’re richer than God. Spoiler alert… they aren’t. At least, not anymore. Malcom has been drowning in debt for years now, leveraging assets and making shady deals to weasel his way out of the fallouts.
If it didn’t make me so damn mad, it would be impressive. It shocked me when I first found out because no one is the wiser about how bad it really is. I’ve been buying myself time, watching, observing, and waiting for the right time to attack, though, and the time is coming. I can taste it in the fucking air, and I’m so damn giddy for it that I can barely stand it.
“Have you watched the news lately?” I ask as I fork a glazed carrot to put in my mouth.
I watch his face like a hawk, waiting for the unease and panic to settle on his face. His eyes narrow before turning razor sharp back at me.
“Here and there, nothing of importance, though. Am I right?” It’s a challenge. He knows, and I know it.
I shrug my shoulders like I don’t have a care in the world. “Maybe to some, but to others it may be life altering,” I say with a small smirk, ready to meet his challenge and obliterate it.
“Must you always speak in such riddles, Andrew? It’s exhausting and pointless,” my mother says with obvious annoyance in her tone. Her eyes volley back and forth between Malcom and me.
I hold my smirk. “It’s only a riddle if no one knows what I’m talking about, but Malcom knows exactly what I’m referring to. Don’t you, Dad?” It’s the first time I’ve called him by a paternal title in months, and it has the exact reaction I wanted it to.
He slams his fists down on the table, the expensive and hideous China rattling with the impact. “You will not disrespect me in my home, boy!” If the color crawling up his neck and into his cheeks is any sign, his blood pressure is rising.
There’s a sick satisfaction in making him squirm. I hope to do it much more often now. Just then, my phone rings. I wrap my fingers around it and slide it out of my pocket. My eyebrows jump in surprise when I see a name I’ve been waiting for flash across the screen.
“If you’ll excuse me, I’ll be right back.”
“Don’t you dare get up!” Malcom scolds at the same time Mother says, “Andrew, don’t upset your father. Come back here.”
I continue out of the room, not giving a damn if I upset him. I hurry my steps down the long hallway. I turn right and glance over my shoulder to look back. I see no one and decide it’s safe to continue. I go down to the end and enter the library, closing the door softly behind me.
I answer in a hurry. “Did you find something?”
“I found the fucking holy grail!” His words knock the breath out of me, and my pulse picks up.
“Are you sure?” I need to hear him say it. I need to hear him say he found the one thing we’ve been looking for all these fucking years.
“I’m fucking positive this is it. It’s the right one.”
There have been so many false alarms over the years that I’ve lost count, but he sounds so confident this is the one.
