Page 47 of If You Could Only See
I heard mymother’s gasp, and as much asI wanted to fly across the desk and beat my father to death, I knewI had bigger issues to handle at the moment.
I twistedaround just in time to step in front of Michaelas Aiden and Gabriel did their best to restrainhim. He was pointing at my father as we all held him back. “I’llfucking kill you, I swear to God!” he thundered. “Say one morething about her and I willfucking killyou!”
“Michael!” Iyelled, trying to draw hisattention. It took a lot of manhandling and shouting, but hefinally stepped away from the edge and focused on me. “I got this,Mike.” I patted his chest, trying to snap him out of his emotions.“I got this, okay?” He gave me a small nod, but I noticed Aidendidn’t leave his side and Gabe kept his arm around hisshoulder.
JesusChrist,Michael was going to kill someone one day.
Iturned back to my father, and Inoticed his pallor had whitened a bit. I’m not sure if that’s thefirst time Michael’s ever went after him, but like I said before,my father was no fool. He knew Michael was a tadunbalanced.
Igot back to the issue at hand. “Youcan have it all. If it means giving up Shane, then I don’t want anyof it.”
“You’d throwaway your entirefuture forher?” he asked, incredulously.
I laughed.“Sheismy future,” I replied. “That’s whatyou’re refusing to see.”
He lifted abrow andsneered, “Fine. Go bewith her, then. I have three other sons wh-”
“Not exactly,” Aideninterrupted.
My fatherturned to him, shock clear onhis face, no matter how hard he was trying to conceal it. “And whatdoes that mean?”
“It means whereMason goes, we go,” Gabrielanswered.
“It means if you cutoff Mason, then you cut all of us off,” Aiden clarified.
Myfather barked out a laugh,calling our bluffs. “Do you think I care?”
Michael’svoicesounded like the crackof a whip. I knew he was still enraged. “I think you’ll care whenword gets out that all four Buchanan sons jumped ship,” he said. “Ithink you’ll care a lot, and I think your recent contracts willcare when they start to wonder who the hell will run BuchananIndustries in the future and what’s so bad about BI that all foursons chose to be poor and start over, rather than work at BI. I’dthink about that, if I were you.”
“Youwouldn’t dare,” my fatherseethed, spittle flying from his mouth.
“Enough!” Allfive male Buchanan headsturned towards my mother, but she only had eyes for me. “Do youlove this girl, Mason?”
“With everyfiber of my being,” Isaid, nohesitation whatsoever.
She turned tomy father and said, “I’ve beena neglectful mother, but…but I thought sons were supposed to bebrought up by their fathers. Clearly, I was wrong.”
“Natalie-”
“Shut up,Harold!” she snapped out, surprising thehell out of all of us. “If Mason wants to be withthis girl, then he’s going to be with her, and there isn’t a damnthing you can do about it.” She straightened her spine and lookeddown at my father; something I’ve never seen her do before. “You’veseemed to have forgotten that you’re not the only one who came intothis marriage with money. And if I have to give up every cent Ihave, to ensure my sons have a successful future, Iwill.” She walked towards my father and took my placein front of him, across his desk. “And I will gladly watch, as theybuild their own empire, while they tear yours apart.”
We were allstunnedspeechless. None of ussaid a word as my mother turned her back on my father and walkedout of his study. All these years we thought she didn’t care, butmaybe she was just as much a victim of Harold Buchanan’s as wewere.
“I guess TheQueen has spoken,”Gabrielquipped.
My father’slook was sharp and definite,but it was no longer deadly. He lost, and he knew it. “Get out ofmy house,” he fumed.
I wasabout to flip him off when myphone rang with a ringtone I had specifically assigned to Viola. Ihad gotten her number the next day after my first night with Shanein case of emergencies. I ignored my father and answered my phone.“Viola?”
“Oh my god,Mason! Oh, God!”
Thefear in her voice was turning myblood cold. “What’s wrong? Where’s Shane?”
She wascrying, but through her sobs,she managed to get the story out. “I was talking to her and then Iheard her scream,” she cried. “I couldn’t make out much because shedropped her phone, but I heard her say Branson’s name and…oh, god.She was walking home from work, so I called the policeand…”
“Where the fuck is she,Viola?!”
“She at CountyMemorial, Mason. He…he beat her up pre-”
