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I ignore my grandmother's shrill, indignant voice. My gaze, my attention, all of my fucking anger is focused on the younger man cowering behind his parents. “Leave, right now, or I swear to fucking God-”
“Oscar, stop.” I flinch when he says my name, hating how it sounds coming out of his mouth. “I'm just here to pay my respects.”
Bullshit.
Paying your respects would involve having respect. He didn't respect her, he didn't love her, he didn't even fucking like her. This, showing up almost a week after the fact, is fucking disrespect. “Consider them paid. Now, leave.”
For the first time in his pathetic little life, Oscar Jackson Senior stands his ground. Stands straight-backed, hands fisted at his sides, face serious.
God, he looks just like Lottie.
“I want to see the girls.”
Over my dead fucking body. “No.”
He actually has the audacity to look offended at my refusal. “They're my kids.”
“The fuck they are.” He gave away that right, literally and figuratively, a long time ago. He threw it away, threw us away, like we were nothing. He never earned that right.
I did.
“Iraised them. Not you. Not them.” I gesture towards my grandparents before stabbing a finger at my own chest. “Me. They're my fucking kids and I'm telling you to stay the fuck away from them.”
“Oscar Jackson, you watch how you talk to your father,” Grandma hisses, her face red with a mixture of anger and embarrassment.
“He's not my anything.”
“Lower your voice.” All three of them glance anxiously around the ranch. Like paparazzi are going to erupt from the treeline and discover that, shock horror, their beloved, charismatic, oh-so-progressive politician-turned-philanthropist is actually a massive jackass with five illegitimate children he abandoned over a decade ago. It would ruin his career, if that happened.Wewould ruin his career.
Hence why our grandparents pay us off and keep us hidden away on the ranch.
“Fuck you,” I spit at the woman who has caused me and my sisters so much fucking pain.
There must be something in the air because for once, my grandfather finds his voice. “You will not disrespect your grandmother like that.”
I laugh in his face. “Fuck you, too.”
“Oscar.”
I ignore my father's voice, instead sweeping my arm in the direction of their car. “All of you, leave.”
My grandmother narrows her eyes, turning up her nose at me. “You can't tell us to leave. This is our land.”
“How much do you want for it?”
The words come out so quick I barely register that I'm saying them. I think, for quite possibly the first time in her long, miserable, life I've rendered my grandmother speechless because she gapes at me for a moment before choking out, “What?”
Can't back down now. “How much is it gonna take for you to leave us alone?”
She scoffs, regarding me with utter condescension. “You couldn't possibly afford it.”
Clearly, they've lost count of all those deposits. “Try me.”
They blurt out a number and I almost laugh; God, they really have no idea how much this place is worth. “Done.”
“Wait-”
“And you’re gonna transfer legal guardianship of the girls to me.”
