Page 64 of Balthazar's Fire

This was the moment he’d been waiting for, the one where his father was finally on the ropes, and he intended to exploit it.

“Help me run this shitshow.” Jonas gestured to the room around him. “I’m getting too old to deal with it all, too old to deal with the suppliers, the morons who want a cut, the lawyers, accountants, and all the other crooks.”

Finally, the truth.

“Okay.” Wandering a few strides toward him, Oliver stared at his father. “I’ll help run the shitshow, but only if you meet my terms.”

“What terms?” Jonas’s brows knitted.

“No. More. Allowance.” He enunciated the words the way he’d done in his head all the times he’d practiced what came next. “I’m your son and I should be your partner. I want fifty percent of the Monroe empire, enacted by contract within the next forty-eight hours.”

“Fifty percent?” Jonas spat out the words. “No fucking way. I can pay some other clown to take over for less.”

“Then pay some other fucking clown.” Oliver grinned, although he was deadly serious. “If you don’t agree, then I’m out, Dad. I’ll walk away and find somewhere else to play.”

He half expected his father to explode in fury with threats about what would happen if Oliver didn’t comply. That was what had happened every other time someone had stood up to him, but Oliver was serious about walking away because he’d finally realized something—there was a life beyond the murky Monroe empire, and for everything it had brought him, there was also anger and resentment—a thousand conversations that the family had never had, plus all the words that couldn’t be unsaid.

“Oliver!” Jonas squeezed his eyes shut and mentally, Oliver counted down from five, waiting for detonation. He was surprised then at his father’s chuckling tone. “You’re such an asshole.”

“I’m your son,” he reminded Jonas. “Everything you see is what you’ve made.”

“Don’t fucking remind me.” Jonas shook his head. “Okay, Oliver, we can be partners.” His father’s tone was resigned.

“At fifty percent,” Oliver repeated, staring at his father to see how sincere Jonas’ expression was.

“If you insist.”

“I do,” Oliver confirmed. “And I want the paperwork within the next—”

“Yes!” Jonas raised a palm, his free hand moving to rub his forehead. “I heard you. Within the next forty-eight hours.” He sighed. “I have a meeting with my lawyer’s new associate any minute. She can set it up.”

“She?” Oliver snorted. “I thought you only worked with Jeffries?” Ron Jeffries had been the family’s lawyer since before Oliver was born. “Didn’t you teach me that women were only good for one thing?”

“Yeah well…” Jonas shrugged. “Seems the world is changing. These days they have women in all sorts of positions.”

“I saw the sort of position you like when I walked in.” Oliver leered.

He couldn’t decide if he loathed his old man or was secretly filled with admiration for him. Once upon a time, he’d disliked his father’s constant cheating and felt sympathy for his mother, but these days he had little time for either of them. He yearned to be unleashed, and taking hold of the family business was the first step.

“Guilty.” Jonas smirked. “And no regrets.”

“The chimera is getting harder to control.”

Oliver hadn’t meant to blurt out the admission, but it was rare that he and his father had any time together, and even less common that they weren’t butting heads if they did. Since their abilities were never discussed unless the two of them were alone, this was as good a chance as any.

“What?” Jonas’ gaze narrowed. “What’s happened?”

“Nothing’s happened,” Oliver reassured, unwilling to share the fact that he’d used the beast to capture Cherie from the Vaughn’s mountain lodge. He was certain his father wouldn’t approve, especially since Balthazar had spotted the two-headed monster. “I’m just saying.”

“The drive was maddening around your age.” Jonas’ piercing stare was disconcerting. “I remember wanting to shift all the time, and it was worse when I wasn’t getting regular sex. That’s when I started keeping multiple mistresses. It kept the chimera at bay.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Oliver replied.

He certainly wasn’t averse to the idea of more sex. He’d thought he was going to get his wicked way with Cherie, but since Balthazar had taken her back, he hadn’t been able to track down her whereabouts, and she hadn’t returned to the postage stamp-sized place she called home. The thought riled him, reminding Oliver how much he loathed the Vaughn family.

“Listen, maybe we can find a way to dupe those bastard Vaughns?” he suggested, once more moving closer to his father.

“What do you mean?”

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