Page 24 of Ugly Truths
Davey's expression flickers—annoyance, maybe, or curiosity—but I press on before he can respond. “If I'm going to trust that you'll keep your word about Luis, I want her to know about it. She will hold everyone accountable.”
“And I need to apologize,” I add quietly. “She deserves the truth. And if she wants to hear my reasons for doing it, I'll tell her those, too.”
My body tenses, bracing for the sharp reminder that I've already done enough damage. That I don't get to ask for things like this. Not with Natalie, not ever.
But it doesn't come.
Davey studies me. Really studies me. Then tips his head inacknowledgment.
“I'll see what I can do.”
And then he's gone.
Chapter 11
Silas
The slam of my office door reverberates through the room. Through the glass, I catch a parting glance of Jeremy storming down the hallway, a takeout box clenched in hand. Leslie glances up from her computer as he passes, her eyes flicking to mine for the briefest second before returning to the screen. I stay seated, eyes returning to the remains of my lunch, appetite gone.
The conversation had started the way so many do: with Jeremy eager to pitch ideas he hasn't thoroughly researched. Today's gem was a project management software he clearly didn't understand, but I gave him the courtesy of listening. I always do, though my constructive feedback rarely makes it through that thick layer of pride and hostility he always wears.
What I didn't expect was the pivot to something even more absurd: our open Chief Operating Officer role.
William has floated the idea several times this summer, dropping it into conversations as if it weren't completely insane. I remember the first time he suggested it, and I nearly choked on my coffee when I realized he was serious.
Jeremy. Hot-headed. Impulsive. Chronically underqualified Jeremy.
It would have almost been funny if my father hadn't doubled down on me nominating him in the new year.
I explained to Jeremy the reasons we've kept the position open and what it would take even to consider him for the role. At first, he seemedto be shocked by the standards I gave, but it wasn't the arrogance that got to me. It was the final shot he threw over his shoulder before slamming the door.
“What a fucking surprise. The golden boy doesn't want anyone else to succeed besides his best friend. So much for family, huh?”
Jeremy's outburst wasn't the real issue. It was what he revealed about my father. While I've been painstakingly navigating the transition to CEO, William's been making promises I wasn't even aware of, let alone agreed to. And to make matters worse, he also told Jeremy that Davey is earmarked for Chief Security Officer.
I exhale slowly, but the anger simmers and threatens to boil over.
Daveyismy choice for CSO. That decision has been made for months, and my father has been fully supportive of it. But Jeremy tried to spin it as if it were some family handout; as if Davey hadn't spent years working his ass off to prove he was the best person for the job.
I can't figure out what my father's angle is. I already told him no. So, why keep pushing? Does he actually believe Jeremy's qualified? Or does he see this role the same way Jeremy does—as something owed to him because of who he is? And if that's the case, why not nominate Jeremy himself?
Unless that's the whole point. Maybe he told JeremyIwould do it so he wouldn't have to be the one to say no. So he could continue playing the part of the supportive father to the one person he has coddled most in this world. Or maybe he's just finally lost his goddamn mind.
I lean back in my chair, dragging a hand down my face. The way my father has been acting recently has only made my life harder, and he just made it worse by recruiting Jeremy to start “advocating” for himself in this way. As if our relationship hasn't been on a downward trajectory since his addiction spiraled out of control.
We've never been close, and the gap only widened after all of the horrific things he did in high school to be expelled and started using.
I won't pretend I handled it the right way. I didn't. Instead of compassion, I met him with anger and disappointment. Jeremy had the world at his fingertips, and he threw it all away for coke and prescription pills.
We bailed him out more times than I can count. After the first overdose in Aspen. After he crashed one of my father's cars into a storefront in Scottsdale. After he passed out at a company holiday party and had to be carried out the back door so it wouldn't make headlines. But that was only the start.
Not only did William pay off the family of the freshman in high school he nearly beat to death hazing for football, but he did it a second time when Jeremy nearly broke a woman's jaw in a bar fight. It was excuse after excuse with that one.
“She just wanted our money, anyway.”
“Jeremy didn't know what he was doing.”
“It'll only make things worse if it went public.”
