Page 53 of Encounter

“Thank god,” she chuckled. “What a silly idea.”

Praying to any god willing to help me, I hoped it was the extent of her prodding. Usually, Dad would get into a polite, hostile discussion about business or finance with them, which would take all of their attention for the rest of the dinner.

Unfortunately, as soon as the waiter left with our orders, Grandpa turned his gaze to me again. “Your father says you are doing well at school.” Watching me from behind his expensive glasses, he made me feel small and insignificant. Swallowing hardly, I hesitated. There was always this sense of having to weigh my words, choose the right ones, the right tone. Like I was on a trial, like I was always a step away from getting kicked down and thrown out like trash.

“Umm... yes.”

“It doesn't seem like you excel as exceptionally as your cousin, though,” he added, and as he clicked his tongue, I felt Dad twitch next to me. Tightening his grip on his glass, he gave me a fleeting look—the one I knew was full of hidden rage and frustration, and as always, somehow all of his negative emotions started seeping into me as well.

Here go those comparisons.

Grandpa knew where to hit Dad for it to hurt, and hesureloved to stab the spot. “Must we bring up Maximilian in every conversation?” he said, grinding his teeth.

“Oh, I was only hoping to motivate Galen.” As he pointed at me, my veins ran with ice. Sometimes I wanted to ask him... I wanted to ask if he seemed to detest me so much simply because I wasn’t perfect enough for his liking, because I was my father’s son, or if it was because I didn’t look like the rest of them. “Of course, I’m fully aware not everyone could be as gifted as your brother and his children. Such is life... Fundamentally unjust.” Sipping his wine like he could only enjoy it after adding some insult on top of it, he looked down on Dad who sat in silence; the cold, emotionless mask barely holding onto his face.

“You always feel like your brother’s accomplishments are some sort of dig at you, Richard. Don’t be a child.” Grandma waved her hand, adorned with expensive pearls and gold bracelets.

“I am not the one who keeps bringing him up,Mother.”

My god, if words could kill, the last one would cut her in half.

“Enough of that,” Grandpa ordered, making all of us tense under the respect-demanding tone.

I played with my feet under the table and nervously pulled the sleeve of my shirt. Glancing at Dad, who wouldn’t budge his gaze, I desperately tried to find a way to get their fire off him without jumping into the crossfire myself.

“I haven’t... haven’t seen Maximilian in a while. He’s working on his doctorate, right?” Holding my voice as firm as I could, I knew the question was going to piss off Dad, but my ego wasn’t as hurt as his was by listening to how much greater my cousins were. Getting my grandparents to sing praises about them was a good way to bring insomepositivity.

Knowing and accepting I was never going to be as good as them was the only way for me to survive. I tried to reach their standards and keep up for years, but it was simply not in my power to do that, no matter how hard I tried. Unfortunately, Dad seemed to be much more persistent and stubborn...

Smiling proudly, Grandma nodded. “Indeed. All that while working as an intern in the Benson Branch off the coast.”

“Amalia is set to be the valedictorian in her class this year,” Grandpa added.

“No surprise there,” I said, smiling to myself. It was hard to believe someone who came from the same parents as Dad had such great kids. They were so much more human than them, and so was Uncle Henry. It was a shame they were too busy to ever see us. I had no illusions about the true reasons, though—they were the kinds of people to be successful in life, so there was really no point in hanging out with a loser like me. Tied by blood or not.

Though Dad looked like he was burning up inside, at least Grandma and Grandpa had more satisfied expressions on their faces after talking about their favorite grand kids.I stopped beating myself up for not winning that stupid contest Dad had in his head with Uncle Henry since they were kids years ago...

As soon as the food arrived, I dug in, thankful for the family rule of not eating and speaking. The painfully tense silence was torture, but the clinking of the cutlery was a much more pleasant sound to me than the regular programming.

“Oh,” Grandpa blurted out after a few minutes. “I would have almost forgotten to mention. I looked at the shares of the company this morning...”

“They arefine,” Dad snapped almost immediately, swallowing the food he was chewing with some trouble. “I’ve already asked you to keep your nose out of—”

“Out ofyourcompany, which wouldn’t have existed without me?”

Hovering his cutlery above the plate and tensing his jaw, Dad needed a minute to recover from that blow. Even Grandma must have known talking about damn shares and money was going to wreak havoc, only instead of being mortified, she sighed and shook her head, like she was saying ‘boys will be boys’ and completely separating herself from it.

“Forgive me for trying to give you my expertise, Richard. Surely, two percent is not enough to be worried for someone like you.” The sarcasm emitting out of his voice was like some dangerous gamma radiation, hurling straight at Dad.

Did he lose some money because the whole thing with Ramirez? I wished he would talk to me about it, but he acted like it never happened.

I was going to throw up the food I so desperately tried to get in me if they went on for any longer. I could barely breathe.

As Dad clenched his knife, I worried he was going to throw it at Grandpa just to watch him bleed out. The thought quickly brought the image of my kidnapper on the group, laying in the blood of his own blood. Holding my breath, I blinked to make it go away.

Only if Grandpa knew what Dad got me into, no doubt precisely because he’s been doing everything he can—like dealing with criminals—to subconsciously please him.

“It’s only a temporary setback, and it was anticipated. It was you who always taught me risk-taking is an essential part of growing and expanding, was it not?”

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