Page 54 of Fragile

“What’s that son.” His use of the word son, made me seethe.

“I don’t want to be dead.” There, I had said it.

The speaker on the phone whistled as my father breathed heavily. “It wouldn’t come to that. I get you don’t want to work for the Kinlan’s but if I were to promise that you would just work on the legitimate side of stuff would you reconsider?”

My old man actually thought I didn’t want to join his firm because of the Kinlan’s when the truth of the matter was that I didn’t want to work with him.

One day my father would go down, one way or another, and I’d be fucked before I’d let him drag me and my brother with him.

“Look, don’t answer. Come to the party, your mother would like to see you. Bring that little bit of fluff with you,” Garrett said, casting a twinge of alarm to shoot through my chest. I raised my eyes towards my door, wondering if he meant Leonie or Natalie. Although you could hardly call Natalie little with those legs that ran all the way up to her armpits.

Pushing thoughts of Natalie’s legs wrapped around my waist away, I feigned ignorance. “What little bit of fluff?” Garrett Knight was a chauvinist and only had one purpose for women. He’d only employed a handful because his HR team had told him he had to.

“The sweet little blonde you have living with you. The girl you tried to palm off as your brother’s. You’ve been seen together.”

Shit. I suddenly felt like the room had closed in around us. As usual, Garrett was attempting to break my balls. He had his spies everywhere.

“What makes you think we’re together, together?” I said, attempting to lie to the shrewdest man I knew.

“You were seeing today, eating lunch at that Italian place. What a romantic you are Gabriel,” my father cooed.

“Said nobody about me, ever,” I snapped back. “Just because I took her to eat, doesn’t mean she means anything to me.” Something glitched inside of me as I said those words and it dawned on me that I knew I was talking shit.

I could almost hear his smile. “Look, either way, bring her to the party. She’ll look pretty fantastic on your arm, irrespective of whether you are fucking her or not.”

My entire body stiffened. Great. Now I was to use Leonie like a fucking trophy. The thought left a sour taste in my mouth.

And then the shit hit the fan when my father said in a tone that brooked no argument. “You will bring the girl as your plus one Gabriel. Your mother needs someone to talk to whilst we talk business. You do as I say and I will think about cutting you free. Until you get as bored as fuck working on dull-as-shit litigation cases for Preston and beg to join me.”

If there was one thing my father didn’t do, it was go back on his word. He was giving me a possible way out. That was the only reason I agreed to join him at the stupid party. There were of course three other silver linings, I got to mingle with like-minded people and network, I could see my mother and I’d also get to take Leonie out. She’d probably be blown away by such an event, this particular Charity Ball was always eye-opening stuff. You just had to be careful not to scratch too much beneath the surface when it came to the guest list.

I thought about Leonie in the red dress she had seen earlier. “I’ll be there.”

I then hung up and dialled Natalie. She was surprised to take my call and I could hear Max in the background bellyaching. “Sorry mate, you’re too late. Fuck him off love and come back to bed.”

I rolled my eyes as I gave Natalie an exact description of the red dress. The one in the window of one of the boutiques we’d passed on the way back from Felice’s. I guessed her size would be between a six and an eight and I went with the latter. I also asked if she’d be able to sort shoes and other shit women needed with an outfit. I already had her shoe size from all the ballet dance shoes she left lying about.

“I’ll call the store and give them my credit card details so they can charge me directly.”

After another surge of bad language from Max, Natalie took the details and left the call.

I was on my last fucking nerve; my pulse was thundering in my ears at the thought of possible freedom. As I showered, I thought about the other bonuses of separating myself professionally from my dad. It opened so many other possibilities.

But as the water powered down my chest, waves of doubt washed haphazardly through my brain.

I felt torn, introducing Leonie to my father was a step in the wrong direction, I knew that but what could I do? I was already in over my head with her.

That circulating thought of being the one to put her in any type of danger hit me in the chest, like a nuclear bomb waiting to explode.

I had never been a slave to my needs as control was usually wired into me. However, I already cared about the girl. Too much.

Leonie

The following morning, I managed to complete the application form for Felice’s, but in the welcome letter, it stated that they would need to take a copy of some identification and I couldn’t find my passport. It was the only thing I had. I didn’t have a driving licence and the rest of my paperwork was back home with my foster parents.

As I ran my hand down the seams of all my bags, in case it had slipped down there, a lump formed in my throat as I realised that I must have left it at my old apartment.

Due to it not being the most secure of places, I had hidden my passport under a loose board on the window sill. It had fit in there perfectly.

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