AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’ll always believe in you. Never doubt that for a moment.”
CHAPTERTHREE
PRESENT
CARTER
The intercom in my office buzzes. I answer it. “Yes?”
I hear my least favorite voice in return. “Carter! Get your ass in my office! Right now!”
I close my eyes and take a deep breath. “Coming, Dad.”
I head out of my office. LeRond gives me a sympathetic look, obviously having heard my father yell for me. “Do you want me to buzz his office in five minutes with some sort of emergency situation?”
I smile as I shake my head. “No. I’ll take whatever he’s dishing. Hopefully I only need to humor him for a little while longer.”
LeRond holds up his fingers and crosses them. No one in this office will be upset the day my father announces his retirement. He’s universally disliked.
I slowly walk toward my father’s office. Fortunately, it’s on the opposite side of the long hallway from mine. I get to avoid hearing him yell at people and avoid hearing him harass female employees. He’s such a pig. I interfere when I can, but I can’t stand guard at his office door all day long.
Things will be different when I’m in charge, if that day ever comes. I just need to play his game a little longer, and then I’ll take over and clean up Daulton Holdings. I want to restore it to what it was when my grandfather ran things. He would roll in his grave if he saw what my father has done to his company, and the way he treats his employees and women in general.
When I get close to his door, I look toward his assistant Angela. She’s probably the hundredth assistant he’s had in his time here. Conversely, LeRond has been my only assistant for the past ten years.
Angela nods that I can go in, so I do. I plaster a big, fake smile on my face as I enter.
“Hey, Dad. What can I do for you?”
“I need you to clean up your damn image. That’s what you can do for me.” He turns his computer screen. There’s a tabloid picture of me and my friend Francesca at a club last night.
“Dad, I’m a single man. I’m allowed to go out with women. I can’t help that the media seem to love to follow me around.”
“You’ll be thirty-five later this year, Carter. It’s time for you to get married and start a family. We have a wholesome family image to uphold for this company.”
“I’m not sure we have the same definition of wholesome, Dad. Are monthly sexual harassment lawsuits considered wholesome? Is disrespecting your wife considered wholesome? Is making all women around you feel uncomfortable considered wholesome?”
“Cut your whining, boy. You don’t ever see me in the tabloids, do you? I’ve never received any negative press.”
“Because you have money, and you pay people to keep quiet. You keep Mom on a golden leash.”
“Your mother babied you. That’s why you’re such a pussy.”
“She taught me to respect women. If that makes me a pussy, then call me Pussy Galore. Mom also taught me the wordconsensual. You should learn it one of these days.” I give him a big, over-exaggerated smile.
“You think you’re so funny, Carter. You should remember that I hold the keys to the kingdom. You won’t get your hands on this company or the family trust until I decide it’s time.”
“If you drop dead, I get them too. I’ll just hold out hope for that.” I give him another big smile.
“I hate to burst your bubble, but I’m in excellent health.” He’s unfortunately right about that. He keeps himself in good shape. He’s actually a decent-looking man. He’s broad like me, with a full head of salt and pepper hair. That’s what’s so ironic. If he wanted to run around on my mother, he could easily find willing participants. But everything is a power play for him. He gets off on it.
I shrug my shoulders. “I suppose I can always pray for an aneurysm.”
He ignores my comment. “You need a haircut too. I don’t understand why it’s so long on the top. You look like a hippie. The person running this company must have a clean-cut image.”
I can’t get into the irony of that statement coming out of his mouth. “Did you call me down here for this excellent fatherly advice, or do you actually need something?” I start to move for the door.
“Sit down, Carter.” I turn back and reluctantly flop down on one of his chairs.
