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I knew he’d want an update on my mother.
And I hadn’t been lying to her about flying to Greece. I’m on a flight Friday at noon if I don’t hear from her by tomorrow.
“Yeah, sorry, Farmer. My mom is at our estate in Greece for a vacation. Please tell your mom not to worry.”
My mom needs friends right now, friends that won’t tell her what she wants to hear but what she needs to hear.
“Is she okay? It’s not like Liz and my mother to go this long.” The concern in his voice is honorable, and I find myself not irritated by him for the first time ever.
“Yeah, she’s good. And thanks for checking in on her. I appreciate it.”
I bypass his large body, leaving him alone in the bathroom.
* * *
I’ve comein early to check on some sensitive New York correspondence. On my way to visit my mother, part of me would love to stop in England and spend one night with David. I miss him something awful, but we promised one another a clean break. I’m booting up my computer to check emails, and it’s the last thing on my list before I leave this morning for Greece.
I’m reading through the information from Jasper, Clark’s good friend and an associate in New York, when my text notification I have for my mother comes through. I pick it up, my hands shaking.
Mom:My dearest sweetheart. I’m so sorry you had to speak with your father about this. Bottom line, I’m not taking your money. It’s meant for you. Plus, I need to see my parents’ money used for good, and you are good, Xander. Please don’t give away your chance to turn the company around. I let this happen. But don’t worry. I’m not returning to what we had. We have a large house, and I barely have to see the man. I will play his dutiful wife at events, but I’ll be living my own life. I’m on my way home. Why don’t I come by and see you Sunday for breakfast? I miss you, son. And I love you even more.
I hate that the man has a hold on both of us. He’d been calculating. He agreed to let me go to Notre Dame and Yale instead of Harvard, but it came at high stakes. And everything is a game to him, and he loves using us as pawns. I could care less about Lynol Inc, except Mom is right. My grandpa loved my father and gave him so much leeway with the funds to start the successful company, but I’m sure it’s not run on the up and up, knowing my father the way I do. My grandfather, Marcus Roan, never saw my father’s true colors.
I set down my phone and don’t reply to my mom.
Kari, the secretary Micah and I use, enters my office. “Mr. Lynol, I didn’t think you’d be here today.”
“My plans were changed, and I’ll be here for the entirety of the day, after all.” But in the next several years, I’ll find a way to sever ties with my father if it’s the last thing I do.
8
XANDER
Two years. I’ve been with this firm for two years, all while interning at Lynol Inc in my spare time. My father is up my ass about everything. Apparently, I’m still a major disappointment, yet he has a hard-on about me working for him. I can’t figure it out. But I’ve done my own due diligence. In my downtime, which is very little, working eighty hours a week at the firm and then twenty at Lynol Inc, I’ve uncovered some interesting spending habits within the company and significant withdrawals by my father. He may be the CEO, President, and any other powerful title he can create. Still, embezzlement is illegal, and my Spidey-Sense tells me the asshole is embezzling. If so, the motherfucker is going down.
I emailed a financial forensic investigator I hired two years ago to see if he’s gotten anywhere. However, this is a long game, and proving my father’s involvement will be time-consuming.
I startle when a loud scream is heard throughout the office. Walking to the central vestibule, everyone’s attention is on the open passageway where you can see the level above. It’s distinctively male, and it echoes off the walls. We strain our necks to figure out where these cries come from. The closer I get to the commotion, the more intelligible the voice becomes, and I instantly recognize it.
“No, no. It can’t be. Please tell me you’re wrong.” I don’t see him, but someone steps off the elevator to his floor. With the open passageways, I recognize Jennifer Laney. She rushes toward the voice and has no reason to be in our building except for him.
Micah hurries toward me as we watch the commotion playing out above us. “Did you hear?” In Micah’s demeanor, I understand the news isn’t good, but I’d gathered that already.
“What happened?”
“Clark Farmer. His dad was in a car accident and died on the scene. Someone called him just now. But I’m glad Jennifer is here. I take it he and his father were close.”
There’s no closer family than the Farmers. Jen has her arm around her very tall man, who’s slumped over, barely able to stand. Rex, the paired associate Clark has worked with for the past two years, follows them as though he’ll catch Clark if he falls, and it’s the last I see of Clark as he enters the elevator.
It’s the first time I’ve ever felt bad for the man. My father is a heartless bastard, but Jackson Farmer was one of the good ones. One of the very best. I turn to Micah. “As you know, my mom is best friends with Clark’s mother. If she hasn’t heard the news, I think it should come from me.”
Micah has a tear in his eye. “I never thought I’d see a man his size break down like that. Shit, it was hard to watch.”
Micah, my best friend since kindergarten, is close with his old man, unlike me. They’re the wealthy family that doesn’t have to fake it.
“Everyone has their breaking point.” And I’m about to go see my mother, the one person I couldn’t live without, only to break her heart.
* * *
