Page 50 of Protégé King

And what is this about him being a media guru who spins stories against companies to get what he wants? I draw a breath. I’m not going to overreact. Damion has never done anything to make me believe he’d do something like this.

But what if all I see is the boy next door, not the protégé king?

I have seen glimpses of a different side of Damion.

I am very confused right now, and I don’t know what to do.

We pull up to my building and the press greets us once again. Once we’re finally inside, I cringe when I see my father standing by the elevator, waiting to talk to me. My heart starts beating so fast, I feel like I’m about to have a volcanic eruption in my chest. I motion him toward the windows, where we have privacy.

He moves in that direction, perfectly respectable in an older but nice blue suit. Like my mother, he’s aged well, the bits of gray in his dark hair distinguished, but the fine lines by his eyes are more pronounced as of late, and he just looks tired all the time. The scowl on his face deepens as we near each other.

“I have to film, Dad,” I say.

“Damion West? Really?”

I try again, this time with him. “He’s always been my prince charming, Dad. You know that.”

“Yeah, right. He can fuck both the women in my family.”

My eyes go wide and my defenses ripple and roar. “He did not sleep with Mom,” I snap. “I don’t even appreciate that implication.”

“His dad fucked Mom and now he’s fucking you to get something from you.”

“Get what from me, Dad?”

“Our company.”

My fingers curl into my fist as I fight back the words that want to come out of my mouth. “I have to film. And I’m done with this, Dad.”

“What does that mean?’

“I’m not paying for your gambling habits anymore. You once owned the real estate market. Try to obsess over doing that again. We’ll all be better for it. Mom doesn’t deserve this.” I turn and walk away from him only to find Shauna watching us, and I don’t like it one bit. She is a little too interested in my personal life, but then, this is a TV show about my life.

I walk right by her and to the elevator. When the doors open, she joins me. “How much money will it take to get you to fight with your dad on TV?”

My head jerks to her. “It’s never going to happen.”

“I could get you a hell of a payday.”

“Never. Going. To. Happen.”

I cut my stare and face the elevator. When the doors open, I look at her. “If this is what the show is going to be, I won’t be on it.”

I leave her there.

Now she can drop the subject of my father or fire me.

I really don’t care. Maybe I will go back to law school.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Damion

My father targets what he perceives as weakness. The only weakness he has ever seen in me is Alana. I should have known he’d keep a claw in her to control me. But all he really did was put a nail in his coffin.

It’s almost lunchtime when I finish talking to the key board members I need in my pocket, framing Alana’s involvement as a business decision when everything to do with Alana is personal. Much more so than I even realized when I came home for her, and when this is over, I’m going to make sure she knows just how true that is.

She thought I left this morning. I could barely force myself to let go of her and get out of bed.

---