Page 21 of Hiding In the Dark (The Righteous 4)
The shot about his mother hurt, and yet, she’d stood by his father’s side when the man blew up his world. Why would he call or visit? And for fuck’s sake, how much did his father know about his extracurricular activities? Maybe this would give him an excuse to kill the asshole after all. Not that he needed any more of a reason.
“What of it?” Kes drawled.
His father sighed, and Kes could picture the look of annoyance on his face as he sat behind his enormous mahogany desk in his glass palace downtown. The thought made him smile. Anything that annoyed his father was a good thing.
“I want you to stop this nonsense and come home. You should be learning how to take the reins of the business, not wasting your life away on the streets like the rest of the garbage.”
“Are you referring to the people or the actual bags of garbage?”
“Is there really a difference?”
Kes visualized reaching through the phone and choking his father. “The answer is no.”
“Why are you so goddamn stubborn? You know this is where you belong. Don’t make me cut you off.”
Kes barked out a laugh, the sound of annoyance thick in his tone. “First off, I don’t need nor want your money. Second, the trust fund has already been issued, so you can’t take it back. Maybe you shouldn’t have set it up for me to receive it at twenty-five. It seems to me you’re a few years too late to be making this threat.”
“I meant the entire company. Not settling for the meager amount in your trust.”
“I have no use for lavish things, Father, not like you. It will last me a lifetime, so I guess thanks for that.”
There was the sound of a door slamming in the distance, and Kes smiled wide as he pictured the office door slamming shut. An evil sliver of foolish pleasure coursed through his body.
“Ungrateful, that’s what you are. Now come home, or I will send someone to come get you,” his father snarled.
Kes wanted to growl into the phone, his patience slipping over the edge and sliding fast down the other side. Bad things happened when his patience disappeared. “You’re planning on trying to kidnap me, your adult son because you don’t like my choices? Choices, I might add, you forced upon me. Choices that would never have occurred if you’d simply let me live my life.”
“I did what I had to then, and I will do what I have to now to make sure that you don’t continue down this road. I’m your father, and if that means I have to force you to get help for your issues, then that is what I will do.”
The threat was evident. To anyone else, it might seem like his father was simply concerned for his troubled son, but that was not the case with his father. Daddy Dearest just couldn’t handle not being in control. If there was a spot in the dictionary for control-freak on steroids, his father would be the poster boy, and when he’d finally grown sick of it and stood up for himself, he’d been punished.
“Try it, and I promise you, it will be your biggest mistake and the last one you ever make,” he whispered into the phone menacingly like he was Lucifer himself.
He could hear his father’s breathing pick up. Good, he’d better be nervous. He didn’t toss around idle threats. “What exactly are you saying, Son?”
“Don’t play dumb, Father. We both know what I mean.”
“How did we get here, Son? How is it that I tried to help you, and you ended up hating me? All I have ever wanted was for you to make good choices and be happy in this life.”
Kes snorted. The concept of ‘happy’ was foreign to the man. He didn’t know the meaning of real happiness, and he certainly never wished it on anyone other than himself.
“You know how we got here, and I will never forgive you. I will never come work for you either. You and mother and the board can all kiss my lily-white homeless ass.”
“Son, please listen to reason. You are going to die out there.”
Kes paused and looked off at the sliver of ocean that he could just see in the distance. “See, that’s where you’re wrong. I already died, and even the devil didn’t want me. Don’t call me again, and if you try to force me….” Kes hit the button and ended the call, not finishing the threat again. There was no point. His position had been made clear. He was going to need Baby Doll, to do some hacking. The onboard AI was the best there was in the world. He really did love that freaking Hummer and the high-tech AI. If his father had any incriminating evidence, it needed to be destroyed. He’d never let that man have control over his life again, not ever.
“Let go of my arm, Mom. You’re hurting me.” Zumi’s voice reached his ears on the soft breeze, her distress obvious. He turned in the direction of her small tarp-covered home, where he found Chelsea jerking on the young girl’s arm. Really bad fucking timing, Chelsea. The anger from his call was spilling over into every stride he took toward his target.
Fucking piece of trash. He might make good on his fantasy to slit her throat yet.
Stuffing the phone in his pocket, he marched up to the scene of the woman and the upset girl. “Give it back! I know you took it, you little bitch,” Chelsea yelled as she shook Zumi hard.
Kes could clearly see the tears running down Zumi’s reddened cheeks, and his temper flared. “I’d let her go, Chelsea.” He stepped up behind the woman and gripped her arm the same way she had a hold of Zumi, but he suspected his hold was much firmer.
“Ouch. What the fucking business is it of yours?”
“Let your daughter go, now.” Giving the woman’s arm a jerk, he dared to get close to her face and her wild, bloodshot eyes. “Or you don’t want to know what I will do next.” Like magic, Chelsea released Zumi, and the girl rubbed at her arm, her bottom lip shaking.
