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This is on him, not me.
None of us speaks as we find our seats. Five minutes later, the room is filled with executives and managers, all my cousins and two more uncles. Leaning back in my seat, I wait for what is about to come. Although I’m not exactly sure what’s going to happen, I am here for the fucking show.
Dad stands, his gaze searching the room and landing on nobody in particular. I glance over at Uncle Dean and watch him with my peripheral vision, trying not to laugh at him as he sweats buckets, knowing that he fucked up big time. An over-twenty-year fuckup is not going to fly with the director.
“I call this meeting to order. It seems there hasn’t been a need for one of these in a while. I feel as though I treat my men fairly, do I not?” he asks.
There are murmurings of affirmation, and my dad jerks his chin, which quiets the room all over again. “I thought I did. Considering I haven’t called one of these meetings in years, I assumed that all was well within our ranks.”
Fuck, this is going to be bad. So bad Uncle Dean is sweating profusely and even starts to shift in his seat. Pressing my lips together, I roll them a few times before I let out a heavy sigh and lean back.
“Then it boggles my mind…” my dad continues, “that someone in this room would think they could get away with something. It may have taken me twenty years to find out, but I will always find out, and in the end, the lie is not worth my wrath.”
Uncle Dean jumps to his feet, and everyone’s gaze swings to him. Silence. Uncle Dean wipes the sweat from his face, and without a single word, he drops to his knees. The thud of his knees hitting the concrete floor makes me cringe.
Coleman clears his throat, and Uncle Dean’s two oldest sons stand as well. Dad doesn’t speak immediately, his gaze searching his brother’s, no doubt looking for the remorse in his eyes. However, I have a feeling that if there is any remorse at all, it’s more along the lines that he’s sorry he mentioned anything to me.
“Bring her in,” Dad roars.
Hendrick, who I didn’t realize was even here because he’s standing by the door, jerks his chin, then opens the door and steps outside for a moment. As soon as my dad said to bring her in, I knew exactly whoherwas, or at least I thought I did.
But I didn’t.
It’s not Shiloh.
It’s the wife.
My uncle’s lover and Shiloh’s mother.
She is gently pushed through the room and guided toward my uncle’s side. He doesn’t look up at her but instead continues to pleadingly focus on my dad. I wonder offhandedly if he was always this much of a pussy or if it’s just because he knows what his fate is going to be.
“Dean, why don’t you tell us who this is beside you?” my father calls out loud enough for the whole room to hear.
“She was my lover,” he whimpers.
“Were you married at the time?” my dad asks.
“I was.”
He hums. Then he gives Dean the real question. “Did you father a child with her?”
The woman lets out a loud sob, her body giving one single jerk as she lifts her hand to cover her mouth. I’m sure she doesn’t want to draw more attention to herself, but it doesn’t matter. She has half of the room’s focus on her, along with Uncle Dean’s.
“I did,” he murmurs.
Coleman grunts, and I shift my attention to him, knowing that what comes next is going to send him reeling. And it does. Because as soon as my father says her name, as soon as the wordShilohleaves his lips, Coleman is on his feet.
There is a hush across the room, and Uncle Dean stays on his knees, his head bowed as he waits for the imaginary sword to slice across his neck. It doesn’t happen. Instead, Dad takes a step backward, almost as if he’s washing his hands of the drama that he announced to the whole family.
I almost laugh, and if this didn’t involve Coleman, along with the other topic, I would probably be laughing my ass off at the whole thing. Maybe one day in the far future, we can, but right now, Coleman fucked his first cousin… multiple times… for months.
“Are you telling me that Shiloh is my first cousin?” Coleman roars.
His voice bounces off the walls around us. He’s angry. I don’t blame him. I would be fucking pissed if I were him. In fact, I would be so angry that I would kill someone. Dad turns to him, arching a brow.
“You better ask your uncle that question.”
Uncle Dean lets out a cry, and I wonder what the fuck kind of pussy this man is. How the fuck is he an executive for the family and acting this way? Dad takes the words right out of my mouth. He crouches down in front of him, lifts his hand, reaches out, and grips Uncle Dean’s hair hard, wrenching his head back and forcing him to look up at him and Coleman, who now stands beside our father.
