Page 51 of Catfish

“I wanted to know if you've heard from Demi.”

A mirthless laugh escapes my lips. “That’s it?” My father’s chestnut eyes stare at me, emotionless. “Why would I deal with her?”

“Because she’s—”

"You have a call on line one," Emmy suddenly announces over the loudspeaker of my phone. She's trying to save me from this monotonous conversation as she's done plenty of times before, God bless her.

Thing is—it never works.

"Hold his calls," my father orders before I can kick him the fuck out. Silence answers him over the room, and we don't stop our staring match. We're both two prideful assholes that won't let shit go.

“Give me five minutes, Em,” I state. “Henry won’t be here much longer.” The click of my phone informs me that she’s hung up while he remains seeated in his chair.

I raise a brow, waiting for him to make whatever point he thought was so important so I can throw him out.

“Pour me a drink,” he orders, adjusting the lapels of his suit.

“That means you’ll be here for longer than five minutes.”

His eyes narrow. “The sooner you listen, the shorter this conversation will be.”

I pull a bottle of Dalmore out of my desk drawer and slam it on my desk. “Make it quick.”

“You need a united front, I shouldn’t have to storm into your office to tell you that.”

“Like I said—” I pull a tumbler out. “—I have it covered and handled.”

“How?”

“You’re not my campaign manager, don’t worry about it.”

“Wade,” Henry warns. “You got this far, don’t be a fucking idiot.”

I finish pouring his glass and slide it over. "You're just pissed that I cut you out of the loop, so let's cut to the chase."

“I want to see you win.”

“You want to brag about how your son is running for president.”

He shrugs. “Who wouldn’t?”

“Anything else?”

“I want Demi at the fundraiser, make it happen.”

“Not happening.”

“Wade.”

“You call her. She’s your daughter. I discarded her years ago,” I reply, easing back my rising temper. “Because of you.”

“She’s your—”

“I already know what she is. You chose her over me all those years ago, took her side. Didn’t listen to me when I said there was a problem. You ignored everything and left me alone to deal with it.”

“I didn’t leave Demi in your care just for you to forsake her. She has a problem, Wade. Just like your brother, Lucas and—”

I give a dismissive wave of my hand. “I let my siblings go a long time ago.”

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