AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He growls and takes a step towards me. I shrink back and he stops advancing. I’m not sure why. “The point is power, you fucking idiot. Power and money. This is the way. Hell, I might even run for president one day.” He laughs and his weirdo sons join in.
“This throws a wrench in my plans for you, but it doesn’t matter,” James says. “No one will believe your word over mine. I’m a powerful and well-known attorney and you’re an orphan with no money and no clout. No one will listen to a thing you say.”
I wait for Fallon to tell him I sent proof, but maybe he didn’t hear that part. That’s when I started to whisper to Michael because I was so overwhelmed. When Fallon doesn’t say anything, I breathe a small sigh of relief.
“What are we going to do with him, Dad?” Conrad asks in a disgusting tone that could only mean pain in my future, depending on what James says.
James does that thing when he’s thinking, tapping two fingers against his chin. He glares at me, then answers his son, but directs the words at me. “You’ll sign that deed over to me. You’ll do it or I’ll have Conrad and Fallon beat you worse than they did Montgomery. You’ll quit your job at Velli Corp. There will be no need for you to be outside of the house. Conrad and Fallon will keep an eye on you. You’ll stay here and do what the fuck we tell you and I won’t kill you.”
“No.” There’s no way I’ll agree to anything he says. I only have a bit of leverage because he wants this house. He could kill me and take ownership of the house as he sees fit. I think, anyway. I’m not sure how transference of property works since he never legally adopted me.
“The fuck you mean, no?” Fallon’s voice booms in the office and I flinch, but don’t look away from James.
“No,” is all I say back.
Fallon grabs my hair again and I cry out, leaning into him instead of pulling away so it doesn’t hurt as much, even though my scalp is on fire. “Do what the fuck he says, or we will kill you.”
“Kill me and you can’t get this house. The lawyer told me they would have to find next of kin if something happens to me,” I lie. “I told him I felt unsafe here and he said if something happens to me, you get nothing. Not the house, not the trust fund and not any of my mother’s estate. It’s all left to me.”
James’s eyebrows shoot up and I smile through my pain. Even though the first part of my statement is false, the rest isn’t. And he knows that because he never told me about a trust fund or my mother having an estate left, as she’s been dead for over fifteen years.
I try to pull away from Fallon, but he just tightens his grip. “Let him go,” James tells him, and Fallon throws me forward. My glasses smash into my closed eyes, the pain sharp against the sensitive area.
Sitting up, I slide out of Fallon’s reach. We’re in a stalemate. No one says anything for a few minutes. My mind is racing, wondering how I’m going to get out of this situation or how I’m going to get away so Michael can come do … whatever he plans to do.
Finally, Conrad throws his hands up. “Fuck this, Dad. He’s a liability. You’re a lawyer. You can find a way to get around your bitch of a wife’s will.”
“Fuck you!” I yell, making all heads snap to me. I’ve never cursed in front of them, let aloneatany of them. For a moment, I’m rewarded with a confused looking Conrad. “Don’t you ever speak about my mom like that! At least my mom stuck around!” That’s a dig and I know it, their mom having ran out on them when Conrad was five and showed his first signs of psychopathy, something I overheard James tell my mom. Way before I knew what a psychopath was.
His face turns red, and he barrels over to me. I slide back as much as I can, but he grabs me the same way Fallon did—by my hair and the back of my shirt—and literally tosses me across the room. I land on the coffee table and roll over to the opposite wall. The wind is knocked out of me, and it takes a moment for my lungs to reinflate.
Before I can take more than two deep breaths, Conrad has a handful of my shirt. He pulls me to my feet, then wraps both hands around my throat. He lifts me off my feet, putting pressure on my windpipe. I thrash around, scratching at his arms and hands, trying to get him to let me go. I think I’m more afraid of how unaffected he looks while he’s strangling me. If he looked angry or pissed off, I could understand, but his face is blank. No emotion.
I can feel myself slowing down, getting weaker, my heart beating double-time because I know I’m running out of air. Even though I fight with everything I have, I know I’m going to die.
“Drop him,” I hear James say from far away and Conrad immediately releases me.
I fall in a heap at his feet and try to drag in much needed oxygen. My lungs spasm and I cough uncontrollably. My eyes water and my throat feels like it’s on fire. No matter how much I try to pull air in my lungs, the coughing pushes it out until I vomit.
Shaking, I roll to the side, finally able to inhale without a coughing fit. When my hearing returns to me, I realize they’re all laughing at me. Tears leak from my eyes. I know I’ll never win against them. No matter how much I fight, I’ll lose. I’ll get tortured until I do what they say. And if I don’t do what they say, I’m dead.
What a shitty way to go out.
Rising on my hands and knees, I feel around for my glasses, giving up when I can’t immediately locate them. No matter. I can see well enough.
Bringing them into focus isn’t easy, but I do it. I see Conrad resting on his father’s desk, looking at me like he didn’t just almost choke me to death. Fallon is leaning against the door, probably making sure I don’t escape. James is looking at me with humor in his eyes and I want to vomit again. He’s enjoying this.
“Fallon,” James says, still staring at me. “I need you to go to see the lawyer we had here a few days ago. He’s not returning my calls and I don’t like that. Go give him a message, will you?”
With a gleeful look, Fallon nods, then leaves quickly.
Like a child, Conrad whines. “Why can’t I go too?”
“Because I need you to take care of him,” he says, inclining his head to me.
Take care of me how? Standing up shakily, I hold my hands up, but not to protect myself. I hold them up as if to fight. I’ve never been in a fight before, but I’ll defend myself. I’ll get my ass beat, for sure, but I will try.
Both men break out in loud guffaws, Conrad even slapping his leg. “Bitch, please,” he dismisses me with a wave. “You want to fight me? Come on. I’ll give you a free shot.”
