Page 4 of Medusa's Revenge

“I don’t know. We need to find this, Lucas. I hope we can get him checked out. I don’t trust him.” I sigh.

“Can’t you hire someone?” TJ is finally outside, and it’s quiet. “She’s withdrawing from us. I don’t like it.”

“I don’t like it either. We might have to let her live her life and make mistakes.” He sighs heavily.

“I don’t know if we can do that. We promised to protect her.” he snaps.

“TJ, I know. I understand that. I never want her to struggle. I want her to live her life but also protect her.”

“Can we not do both?” He chuckles.

“I don’t think we can keep doing both. She needs to be able to learn from her mistakes. It’s how we grow as a person.”

“Go get some sleep. We’ll talk tomorrow.” We hang up, and I toss my phone. I groan into my hands. I need sleep.

Chapter Three

Noah Cameron

32 years old

“Noah, we will talk when this tantrum is over.” My father’s deep voice comes through the speakers in my car. Listening to the same lecture is getting tiresome, and I’m close to blocking my parents. Do you have anything to say?”

“What do you want me to say, father? I want to live my life for me. I know you want me to follow in your footsteps, but I can’t. I was miserable. Let me try this out for myself.”

“No. I spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on your education.” He sighs. “I’ll give you a month before you’ll be back.”

“Father.” I pull my BMW over to the side of the road. My head goes back and rests on the headrest. “I know you’ll be wrong.”

“Fine. I’ll give you one month to get a job and a place without touching your credit cards.”

“Father, I’ve already rented an apartment with my trust fund for a year. I was given part of it when I graduated from college. It was from Grandpa, not you. I won’t touch it again. My bills are paid through the trust. I haven’t used the credit cards you gave me in high school since I graduated from college almost six years ago.” He sighed, and I knew I had won this battle.

”You are no longer my son.” He hangs up. I close my eyes and take some deep breaths. I can’t believe him. When my grandfather finds out about this, he will pitch a fit. He never liked the man my mom married, but she was eighteen, and nothing would stop her. I’m glad she left after I went to college and found true love. My stepdad encourages me to follow my heart and not the almighty daughter, even though he’s a rich mother fucker. He comes from old money, which will never run out, but he went out to make a name for himself. I have three step-siblings, and one is like my father, who thinks money is the answer to every problem and question. She lives off her trust funds and will never work. She wants to rule over people by using money. I’m not built like that and never will be. I return to the road and head toward the apartment I rented for the year.

I didn’t know about any jobs in the area, but I knew I needed to get away from my father. I’m now about a thousand miles away. The town of Saltina, Indiana sounded like a good place. From what I’m seeing as I drive through the city, I see that the town has a lot of businesses and people. It’s about two hours from Indianapolis, so it’s not bad if I want to experience thebig city life. The map on my screen lets me know to slow down because I’m coming to the apartment building. It’s part of the business areas as I see a lot of mom-and-pop shops. I remember talking to the landlord about parking in the rear. There are cameras everywhere, and his dojo is underneath. There are five apartments, and he occupies one of them. I pull into a spot marked with my apartment number. I sigh as I get out of my car. Stretching my muscles and cracking my bones, I look around the parking lot. The sun is setting now, and some businesses are closing, but I see people coming and going. They keep smiling and talking to each other. It’s so weird coming from a big city where you avoid making eye contact so people don’t speak to you. I reach into my cup holder to grab my phone. I dial my mom.

“Hi, sweetie.” Her smiling voice comes through. She always has a smile on her face.

“Hi, mom. I just got here.” I let out a groan.

“What did he do now?” She sighs.

“Who says he did anything?” I unlock my doors and grab my suitcase and carry-on bag. I didn’t know how I’d feel after traveling, so I packed my suitcase and carry-on for the night so I didn’t have to race around trying to find clothes. The carry-on also carried my valuables and important papers.

“I know that groan. It’s a Mitchell Cameron groan. I invented that groan.” We laugh. “Talk to me,” I explained the conversation to her and informed her how he disowned me. “Well, it’s a good thing you have two parents. Noah, your Dad is a selfish bastard who can’t see anything past his wants and needs. I don’t think he’s capable of loving anyone but his money. He doesn’t even love himself. You have your trust fund, and you get the rest of it in three years. You’ve never needed us past eighteen. We paid for your college because all of your grandparents and the two of us put money in those savings theday I held that pregnancy test. Even now, all that extra went into the trust, and you didn’t use it yourself. Believe me when I say you’re better off than under his thumb. Be free and enjoy your life. I can’t wait to visit, but I’ll let you get settled first.”

“You’re giving me about a month, right, Mom?” She chuckles. “Thanks, mom.” I lean against my car after locking it. I’m going to text Arthur to get the keys from him. “I tried, I did, but I hated myself every time I looked at myself in the mirror. I don’t want to be him.”

“Honey, you’ll never be him. I can promise you that. I won’t let you. I’ll kidnap you, deprogram you, and start over with you if I have to.” We chuckle.

”I love you, mom. I’ll take pictures and videos to send to you.” We hang up.

ME: Hey Arthur, it’s Noah. I’m parked in the back.

ARTHUR: I’m coming down now.

I put my phone away and look up when I hear the roar of motorcycles. I love that sound. I need to look into buying one. My mom will kill me, but she’ll get over it.

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