Page 76 of My Boss's Sons

60

***Noah***

Dad threw back his scotch and then stared down at the glass before chucking it across the room. It shattered against the wall a few feet from Alex’s head. “What do you want? You want me to hire your little girlfriend back?”

“We want you out.” I held his glare. “Out of this company. Out of Mom’s house. And out of our lives.”

He laughed. “You’re crazy if you think I’m just going to walk away from everything I’ve built.”

“You either walk or someone will roll you out on a stretcher, old man.” Ethan finally yanked away from Alex and I had to step in his way to stop him. “Move, Noah. He deserves it.”

I grabbed his face and patted his cheek roughly to get him to look at me. “He does. So let’s do it in a way that leaves him suffering for the rest of his life.”

“This is ridiculous. After all I’ve done for you three.” Dad laughed and pulled out his phone. “I’m calling security. You don’t know what you’re doing to yourself right now. I’m not tooold to have another kid and start over. I’m sure I’ve got a couple more around here somewhere that I can give the world to, since you ungrateful bastards don’t want it. Alex can’t be the only mistake I made along the way.”

“You don’t get it. You have nothing left to offer anyone. We’re going to make sure of that.” Alex walked closer to Dad. “This mistake is going to ruin your life. You want to know the best part? I’m going to do it for nothing. I don’t want a dime from this company. I don’t want your money. I just want to watch you pay for a lifetime of sins.”

“You can’t.” Dad stepped backwards and bumped into the cabinet, causing liquor bottles to rattle as they knocked into each other. “You can’t do this.”

Ethan seethed. “We can and we will. If it wasn’t Sophia, it would’ve been someone else. No one will be safe until you lose the power that you hide behind. You’re not our father anymore. You’re a problem that needs to be solved.”

“All of this for some pussy? I knew your mother was too soft with you three.” Dad held the phone up to his ear. “I need to have three intruders removed from my office.”

I shook my head and pulled out my own phone to arrange an emergency board meeting, but before I could do anything, I heard Dad’s voice go higher.

“Excuse me? What the fuck do you mean? Get up here right now and remove them or you’re all fucking fired!” Dad listened a second more and then threw his phone across the room with a shout. “What did you do?”

There was a moment of confusion as I looked back and forth between Ethan and Alex. None of us had done anything yet.

The office door swung open and Tiffany hurried in, followed by our mother. She’d changed from the soft clothing we’d always known her to live in, into a white pantsuit. She looked more like a CEO than any of us.

“It looks like I’m late to this party.” Mom passed a briefcase to Dad’s assistant and then made the rounds, kissing each of us on the cheek like she hadn’t seen us just hours earlier. When she got to Dad, she just stood back and stared at him. “Congratulations, Gerry. You finally shit the bed so thoroughly that nothing you can say or do will change anything. It took you nearly fifty years, but you finally pulled it off.”

Dad’s face went an even darker shade of red. “Mary? What’s going on? What are you doing?”

Mom looked back at Dad’s assistant, who rushed forward and opened the briefcase. Mom’s smile was serene as she pulled out a sheet of paper. “Thank you, Tiffany. You’re a doll.”

“Tiffany?” Dad cleared his throat. “Someone had better tell me what the hell is going on!”

“Calm down, Gerry, I’m getting to it.” Mom’s southern drawl was even more pronounced than normal. “I have a few things for you to look at, Gerr-Bear. First, I’d like to remind you of where you come from.”

Alex settled against Dad’s desk with a smile on his face. “Well, this is fun.”

“Your family business was holding on by a hope and the worn string of an old G-string. My money saved this place, Gerry. My family poured itself into this place to keep it from going belly up. Something your daddy might not have told you all those years ago is that my family wasn’t doing it just because I loved your daddy’s idiot son. He sold them shares, Gerry. Lots and lots of shares.”

Dad shook his head. “No. I know all the shareholders. You’re lying.”

“You know who I want you to know.” Mom pushed her shoulders back and adjusted her jacket. “I’ve been a good, docile wife through decades of your bullshit, honey, but I’ve got to tell you… I’m getting pretty sick of your shit. I love you and that’sa character flaw I’ve never been able to get rid of, but you hurt my boys. I’ve always told you, Gerry, I can stand by your side through almost anything but my boys were off-limits.

“Anyway, Gerr-Bear. I called a quick emergency meeting with the board about an hour ago. Those men can really make it somewhere on a dime when their livelihoods are at stake. I was honestly impressed.” Mom looked over at us and laughed. “If only I’d been able to get y’all up in the mornings like that back in the day.”

“You didwhat?” Dad glared at Tiffany. “Did you help her call an emergency meeting?!”

Mom held up her papers. “Leave Tiff out of this. She had a decision to make and she made it. People really do choose themselves most of the time where you’re concerned, Gerry. There are two letters in my hand right now. You get to make your own choice. Just like Tiff.”

61

***Noah***

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