Page 88 of Stolen Moments

“Lex, what are they talking about?” I want my friend to explain what he’s doing here and why it feels like I’m walking into the lion’s den.

He doesn’t get a chance as my father approaches, laying his sweaty hand on Lex’s shoulder and squeezing, his knuckles turning white. Lex winces at the contact.

“Alexander was just leaving. We’ll speak soon, son,” my father says, dismissing my childhood friend in the same haughty tone he uses when speaking to people he deems beneath him.

Lex’s mouth opens like he’s going to say something, but he thinks better of it and slams it shut. He nods and rushes past me, closing the door behind him.

“Take a seat, Emery.” My father’s tone is hard as he points to an empty seat at his desk.

Without thinking, I take a seat.

Lex’s presence has me shaken. I’m curious, and at the same time, my chest feels heavy with dread. I’m not going to like what I’m about to hear.

“What’s all this about? Why was Lex here?” My head swivels to my mother, expecting her to answer me. Stupid, I know.

As usual, her expression gives nothing away—not that it could with her overly botoxed face.

“It’s time, Emery,” Sinclair states flatly.

Pieces of the last conversation I had with my mother hit me like a hammer to the chest, knocking the wind out of me.

You will fulfill your duty.

“No.” I shake my head.

“You will do as I say. That was the deal we made. I gave you money and time, but you’ve run out. Of both. Lex has agreed to the terms. You will go to Oregon to pack your belongings and return within the next week.” He shuffles the stack of papers on his desk.

Blood pounds in my ears as my father continues, but I hear none of it. This is not happening. I came here to tell them that, and they’ve beaten me to the punch.

No more.

“We will make an announcement next month. Then—”

“The hell you will!” I shout, jumping from the chair, sending it flying back to the floor.

My mother rolls her eyes at me like I’m a petulant child. I ball my fists, fighting the urge to lay into her. It would be a waste of my breath.

“I will not be going through with our deal.”

My father’s mouth opens to argue, but I cut him off.

“I said no. I didn’t sign any legal documents, so you cannot hold me to it. What you are doing is against the law.”

“We had a verbal agreement.”

“Sue me. I’ll be sure to make a spectacle for all your friends to see. I came here to tell you it’s over. All of it. I don’t know what you have worked out with Lex, but it doesn’t matter. I’m not following through with this farce any longer. I’m out. I only put up with you for Christopher. You remember him, right? Your son.”

“You will not speak of that … that thing to us,” Cybil yells, her eyes bugging out of her head.

Red tinges my vision as my mother calls my brother “a thing”. Her son, her flesh and blood. I turn my glare on her, wishing it would burn her alive. How dare she speak of him that way. He has more class in his pinky toenail than her and all the soulless upper-crust assholes attending this party have in their entire being.

“Chris is not athing. He is a wonderful man with a kind heart. Who he loves is none of your business. Why can’t you just be supportive of him? Of me? We are your children, and yet you have never treated us with an ounce of love or care. Chris was right—you two are toxic, and I can’t wait to walk away from you. Because make no mistake, when I leave today, I will never come back. I have spent my life bending over backward, looking for your approval. But nothing will ever be good enough for either of you.”

My father scoffs. “You will have nothing if you walk away from this. There will be no more money for you or your brother.”

I force an angry laugh. The gall of this man. He knows nothing about me.

“Every penny I’ve taken from you has been to pay for both my and Chris’s education. So you can take your money and shove it. I am a partner at a successful marketing firm. The money I have, I made myself through hard work and with absolutely no thanks to you. You can threaten me all you want. I don’t need you. Besides, I still have money Papa left me, and so will Chris when he turns twenty-five. So unless you plan to take legal recourse, I will be walking away because I refuse to end up like the two of you, trapped in a loveless marriage with your affairs and fake friends.”

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