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I can’t speak because of the pain burning through me, but I also know screaming will make this worse.
“Maybe that’s where your money went,” Igor says with delight. “On his boyfriend.”
“No,” I manage to grind out the one word.
Father lets go of my balls, and I stagger backward, stars in my vision. Jesus fucking Christ, that hurt.
“Do you think he needs to come home for a week in the basement?” My father asks this question of Igor.
Igor turns his piggy, little, ice blue eyes to stare at me. “Da. Maybe one month.”
“I didn’t steal it,” I shout. “Fuck you, Igor, you jumped-up piece of shit.”
“Can I hit him, sir?” Igor asks my father.
“Yes. Not the face. That is reserved for me.”
Igor strolls over to me and punches me in the stomach.
I don’t hit him back. I don’t fight back at all. Every instinct in me is screaming to, but I know my father might actually kill me in this room, and I am trying to keep a lid on his rage.
“I didn’t steal it, Father. Not in the way you think. I did a stupid thing.”
“What did you do?” My father sneers at me, his face a twisted mask of rage.
To my horror, a tear escapes and drips down my face. I wipe it away angrily.
“Such a little pussy,” Igor says with a laugh.
I hold out my arm, displaying the vintage Tag Heuer. “You bought me this watch,” I say. “When you did, it was the best day of my life.”
It’s not a lie, and I can see by the way the twisted hate falters on my father’s face that he can see it is the truth too.
“I wanted to get that feeling again. But this time do it for you.” Now comes the lie. Please let him believe it, I pray. “I wanted to buy something as amazing for you, but I had no money to do it. One day, I saved enough to buy you an Omega watch. Vintage. It had belonged to a racing driver.”
I am telling the truth to cover up the lie, and I think it is maybe working. “Before I gave it to you, I took it to a jeweler to be cleaned and serviced, and they told me it had massively increased in value. They said I had an eye. A gift.”
“I am not following,” my father says.
“So, I, erm I-I-I have a gift, they said. I can see what is good, valuable, when it comes to watches. Mother told me about the account, and she said it did nothing. It was for emergencies only. The watch did something. It made money. I- I wanted to buy more. To get you a collection. I bought a box.” I gesture behind me to the box. “It has twelve slots for watches. I told myself when I had twelve, I would give it to you, and it would be the greatest gift. One befitting such a great man and father.”
The last lie is laid on thick. My father stares at me then walks to the box. He opens it and looks inside.
Igor follows him and peers in too. He whistles. In Russian, he says, “You’ve got good taste, kid.”
My father turns back to me slowly, and I cannot tell what he’s thinking, which terrifies me. “Are you telling me you stole from me to buy me a gift?”
I nod and swallow.
“You think that is okay?”
I shake my head.
“Yet, you think you made money?”
I nod.
“What would you bet on it?”
