Defiance (New Adult Romance) (Isaac & Maya) (26 page)

“That’s definitely not what he wants.”

“I know.” Now he sounds sad. About me. What the hell? I realize that doesn’t get much weirder than your dad being bummed out that you don’t want to screw one of his many girlfriends, but still, the sentiment is just too close to normal father son dynamics, my brain isn’t quite sure how to process the whole thing.

After a long pause, Glory starts to say something. “I…” she stammers. “Are you hungry?”

“What?”

“I don’t know, maybe sushi?”

“No, what were you going to say?” he asks.

“Nothing.” She is good at this, but how does he not see what she’s doing? There’s still a chance that he just doesn’t care, but I really think he completely drops his guard around her.

“
Birdie
.”

Glory huffs. I can see her crossing her arms and pouting. “Isaac needs his own toy.”

“He’s not ready for that.”

“Baron, come on.”

“I mean financially. It’s a big commitment, one that I am not financing for him, not that he’d accept that.”

“This next part will upset you, Isaac,” Nigel warns me. “Gloria goes off script and we weren’t very happy about it, but you should know.”

“That’s fucking great,” I say.

“He is ready for it, Baron. Financially.”

“Oh really?”

“I’ve been keeping something from you for a long time.”

“Excuse me?” my father replies.

“Do you remember my old chef? Paul?”
You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.

“No.”

“He and Isaac got along well. They’ve been in business since Isaac was seventeen.”

“In business?”

“A restaurant. Well, it eventually grew into three.”

“What?” he gasps.

“It’s very successful, but they’re both ready to sell.”

“Seventeen? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t want you to… I thought you might…” Glory doesn’t have to try very hard to sound scared for me anymore.

“Birdie, I would
never
do that to you. Ever. No matter what that little monster does,” he assures her. It sounds like they’re kissing. How fucking sweet. He’d never kill me for
her
. Maybe that’s why she’s been so sure of it this whole time. Perhaps if I’d known she was the only reason I existed, I’d have believed her.

“Well, in that case… Isaac also inherited a million dollars from your wife when he turned eighteen. She was the one who hid that. He only told me very recently.”

“What the fuck?” I shout the same words as the recording of my father, at the same time. Why do I have to sound so much like him?

“You’re joking, right?” he says.

“I’m not.”

“But that would mean…”

“I thought the same thing,” she says. How cute. They finish each others thoughts, too. “He never left me to go with you for the money. That’s never been what it was about.”

My father laughs a beat in disbelief as I hang my head in shame, because it’s true. “Why did he tell you?” he asks, after a moment once it sinks in.

“We were fighting. I accused him of being a sexual sell out, in a sense. He proved me wrong,” she explains. At least she didn’t tell him how much I really have.

“Is he out of money? Is that why he wants out of his business venture?”

“No. He has it all and then some. He’ll have more than doubled it after the sale.”

“Really?”

“Baron,” she chuckles. “Of course. He’s
your
son, after all.”

“Yes, apparently he really is.”

“And…”

“What?”

“Well, he is still rather upset about… what happened between you two. I don’t think he understands how much you care for him.”

“I suppose it wouldn’t kill me to make amends…”
Actually, it might.
“Is this really what you want?”

“I don’t want to worry about him. I hate thinking of him cooped up in that fancy suite trying to fill a hole with… well by filling a hole, if you catch my meaning. He’s very lonely. It would be good for him to have someone to care for him.” She sounds so genuine.

“Lonely,” my father whispers. “Yes, I do know what that’s like. I’ll find a girl, there’s a few floating around unattached.”

“Something fresh, Baron. Unspoiled. He’s never had a virgin, has he?”

“Not to my knowledge.”

“Young, but not…
young,
” Glory requests as my stomach turns. “So many of them have been older than him. Maybe 16? 18 would be better.”

“A 16 year old virgin will be hard enough to find, Birdie. And pricey.”
Holy fucking shit. The only thing more unbelievable other than the fact that she got him to admit it, and got it recorded, is the fact that he would actually do this for me.

“He’s your firstborn. My only. I’ll chip in.”
This is beyond fucked.

“Out of the question. I love a challenge. Do you have any other preferences?” he asks. “Eye color? Hair? Perhaps I can find one that plays the piano as well?” Are they seriously laughing right now?

“Well, I don’t care about the piano, but a blue eyed blonde if you can. Nothing too sullen, he likes them spunky, but he won’t want to break her spirit himself.”

“Don’t push it, Birdie.”

“If I was pushing it, I’d ask you to find a gorgeous virgin in her late thirties, that would really do it for him. If anyone can make that happen, you can,” she says, stroking his ego. “But seriously, just nothing too… ethnic.”

“Of course not.” I cannot believe I’m hearing this conversation. “Just to be clear,” my father says sternly. “This is more for you than it is for him.”

“I know. Can I be the one to give her to him?”

“I’m still not convinced that Isaac will respond well to this at all,” my father replies. His justified skepticism might kill the whole thing. “My son can be very temperamental. This could make things worse between us.”

“Don’t you think I’ve considered that?” Glory says, almost offended. “That’s why it should be me. He comes over, I have a new maid… Subtle but not too subtle. He’ll go for it because he wants it. And he’ll know it’s from you, too, I’ll make sure of it. I think it would mean a lot to him.”

“What matters to me is that it means a lot to
you
.”

“It does,” she whispers.

I hear them shifting around, but the noise doesn’t make any sense until Glory yelps. “Then show me,” he insists. Oh, God. I should have figured this exchange would have aroused him.

“Baron…”

“I should turn it off now,” Nigel says as we listen to more scuffling.

“Don’t,” I say softly. “I need to know.” Sometimes she resists because she likes you to fight her for it, but I don’t think that’s what happening here.

“Bend over,” my father commands.

“I’m already a little sore,” she whines, and she’s not playing coy. She doesn’t want him.

“Not nearly as sore as you’re about to be,” he growls. “
Bend. Over
.”

“Yes, Sir,” she whispers, her voice cracking a little. Glory screeches at first, but then it gets muffled, probably because he’s covering her mouth. She really doesn’t want to do this and he can tell. So much for sweet nothings and tender moments.

“Okay, that’s enough,” I murmur.

Nigel cuts the recording off immediately and gives me a few moments to get my bearing. “Isaac… Was that exchange as literal as it appears?”

“Yes, I think so.”

“You don’t think he suspects anything?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Even at the end, when he…”

Poor Glory. How fucking humiliating to know people are listening to that. “No, that was totally normal,” I explain. Nigel’s eye widen. Normal. That’s not the right word at all. “It would have been more concerning if he hadn’t made her to prove it. How long ago was this?”

“Less than a month.”

“Has it been rough like that since then?”

“No, it more or less went back to the way it was before. They haven’t discussed anything about the purchase since then either.”

“That’s good. She can’t ask again. If it happens, it happens.”

“Is there anything you can do to help it along?”

“Sell the restaurant, maybe, but that will take time. The last thing I should do is actually talk to him, if that’s what you’re getting at.”

“Alright,” Nigel say. “I’ll let them know what you think.”
We say our eerily professional goodbyes and I leave.

35

Isaac

Once I’m alone in the car, I take yet another extra Xanax today because I can’t stop hearing that awful scream she made. He hurt her and she let him. For me. Or perhaps it’s not just for me. Maybe Glory is going through this so she can finally live with herself without disappearing into drugs, drinking, and messed up, heartless sex. I know her and she’s not a monster, not like they are, not full time anyway. This shit has to eat at her. Maybe that’s why she funds that school. Maybe she’s doing this for whoever that girl my father will find is, whoever they all were, for whoever my mother could have been.

I can’t go back to the happy little home I have with my girlfriend right now, I will lose my shit. I’ll start sobbing over Glory and then Maya will be in the awkward position of telling me to do what I should have done a while ago.

I start driving to Glory’s house automatically. I need to see her. She’s the one that’s all alone, not me. I can’t hold on to the hatred anymore, not after that. I can’t just show up on her doorstep. If my father is there and I see him, I won’t be able to hold back. I’ll rip his fucking head off.

Are you home?
I text her.

Yes.
She responds so fast, Glory usually makes people wait.

Alone?

Yeah. Does this mean you’re coming over?

If you want me to
,
I ask. I might show up even if she doesn’t.

Please.

I start speeding and the guilt begins to gnaw at me. I’m not sure that Maya would really care, but she definitely wouldn’t be happy about it. I’ll make it up to her somehow, even if she never finds out.

I used to wish that I’d never been born, even before I knew how horrible it was for my real mother. I can’t honestly say that now. If I didn’t exist, who would be there for Maya? Who would have showed her how wonderful it is to be loved and to love someone back? Who would have carefully extracted Luke from her life? It’s easy to think that someone else could have done it, and maybe that’s true, but I don’t give a shit. It’s me. I want to be here. I’m fucking glad I’m alive, thankful even. And as much as I hate to admit it, Gloria was right. If my real mom hadn’t ended up with my father, she would have still suffered at the hands of someone else. It’s just the way this fucked up world is, maybe it always will be. Sending my dad to prison won’t change it that much and neither would jumping in a time machine to undo my own existence.

Nausea and panic assault my senses when I turn down Gloria’s block, nearly overwhelming me when I’m actually pulling into her driveway. I despise this house, I always will, but not the woman who built it. Maybe there’s too much history, maybe it’s because I don’t exactly have a lot of people in my life that really know me, I’m not sure. It’s probably wrong to feel protective of her, but I can’t help it. She’s my mom. She just is, even more than I understood before. It doesn’t matter how fucked up the circumstances were, she created me. She protected me when I was a baby, she provided for me when I was growing up, guided me so that I had some chance of at least knowing what I was supposed to act like. I can’t pretend that I stopped caring about her.

I walk right into her house like I belong there because I do. She’s standing in the living room, which of course had been redecorated for the millionth time, yet still feels familiar. Eyes that look so much like mine stare at me from across the room. She’s excited to see me, but she’s scared too. My jaw starts to tremble as I step towards her, reaching out as she flinches before she realizes that I didn’t come here to hurt her.

Glory falls into my chest, apologizing for everything over and over as she wraps her arms around my waist. I can’t resist hugging her back and the guilt is a whisper compared to the relief.

“Are you alright?” I murmur, stroking her hair as her head rests on my shoulder.

“I’m fine.” She starts to pull away, but I hold her closer as I start to let the tears fall.

“You can’t be, not with him. I heard that tape.”

“So that’s what this is about,” she whispers, patting my back. “You feel sorry for me.”

“Glory,” I choke.

“Stop it.”

“How bad is it?”

“I said stop it!” she yells, twisting out of my grasp. “Knock it off with the little kid crying bullshit, Isaac. I’m fucking fine.”

She’s not fine, not at all, but she doesn’t want to break down along with me. “Sorry,” I say, shrugging it off. “I just came here from my attorney’s office. That was very disturbing.”

“Which part?” she snaps.

“The part where he hurt you was difficult to hear, but honestly the whole custom order virgin slave is probably what really threw me for a loop.”

“That’s understandable, I suppose,” she replies. “I’m actually glad that conversation is over. It was a weight off my shoulders and now everything is back to normal.”

“You pulled it off perfectly.”

“Thanks. And wipe that worried look off your face. I’m just fucking him. That wasn’t the first time I bent over for your father when I couldn’t stand him. And no, it doesn’t matter if he knew I wasn’t into it. That’s one of his favorite ways to have me.”

“Not anymore. Not with you, anyway,” I insist.

“He’s always been like that. I got into it after a while, I usually do. Seriously, Isaac, this part isn’t a big deal for me and I don’t want you torturing yourself over it. It’s actually been nice in a lot of ways, being with him again. He’s almost sweet, like he used to be a long time ago,” she explains, the hint of a girlish grin playing on her lips. “He doesn’t push me around. Honestly, it’s as tame as it’s ever been, yet somehow not that boring. Though if it will help you forgive me and start coming around again, feel free to let your imagination run wild.”

“I—”

“I’m kidding,” she interrupts me, crossing her arms. “I recognize a burnt bridge when I see one.”

I can’t tell her that it might be salvageable. I’m not sure yet. “Thank you for sending me the pictures of me and my mother.”

“You’re welcome. Those are the originals.”

“I made copies,” I reply, nodding. “Glory, do you think he’ll actually do it?”

“Of course.”

“But… he knows how I am. Dad knows that’s not what I want.”

“It will be fine, Isaac. Your problem is that you hide your strength around him when he wants to see it. You are a reflection of him. You keep thinking Baron wants to see you break, and maybe he did when you were younger, but now that you’ve gotten this far he wants to see you rise above him. You are his firstborn son. He sees too much of Melanie in Preston and Taylor, you’re all his. Your father is proud of who he thinks you are and he will, without a doubt, fall for this.”

That was not comforting in the slightest. “Have you thought about how he’ll react when he finds out what we did?” I ask.

“He won’t.”

“How is that possible?”

“I’m taking care of it.”

“He won’t be powerless behind bars. He’ll get back at us.”

“Isaac,” she sighs. “Why are you so fucking positive that he wants to kill you?”

“I’m not saying he wants to, I just know that he will if I cross him. That applies to you, too.”

“He would never do that. Maybe,
maybe
, if he was 100% sure I did this of my own choosing, which I’m not, but he could never…” she trails off. This flattery has gone to her head, she’s forgotten who she’s dealing with. “We’re family. It won’t happen.”

“Uncle Nick was family,” I whisper.

Glory was about to light up a cigarette, but it falls out of her mouth the second that name fell out of mine. “What?”

“Dad killed him.”

“No, he didn’t. That is ridiculous,” she says firmly. “You seriously need to get help with the paranoia, Isaac. Nick was closer to him than his real brothers. It’s not possible.”

“He did it Glory, for a lot less than what we’re doing. With his bare hands,” I tell her, shuddering at the memory. “I watched.”

“What do you mean you watched?”

“Dad… loaned me out to him for the night,” I say softly, glancing up to watch her face harden as she hears something that she wishes she didn’t already know was true. “He kept me for the whole weekend instead, and we didn’t go to his house like we usually did,” I explain as her eyes start to water. It has to be hard to be so in love with a monster and have no way to turn it off. “Nick took me to a hotel. Dad tracked us down and barged in. I was tied up. And bleeding.”

She chokes, her hands shaking as she starts to light up, but a smoke won’t cover it this time, so she pulls out her little silver vial full of relief instead. “Isaac… are you—”

“Don’t you
dare
fucking ask me if I’m sure,” I snarl. “Shit like that is unforgettable. He burned me, too. Nick fucking
mutilated
me. You’ve seen it, you’ve felt the fucking scars in your mouth. Stop acting like you don’t know what I’m talking about. I’m not trying to torture you, this is pertinent information that you need to know.”

Her lips roll together as she tries to come up with another explanation, but she can’t. “Nick did that?” she sobs. “Really?”

“Yeah. Did you think it was Dad?”

“I guess I did. Nick was always so sweet and gentle compared to him.”

“Then he was a good actor, or he really loved you, because that certainly isn’t how I would describe him. My father would never do that. He felt fucking awful about it and he made it up to me in a very… confusing way. But not until after he wrapped his hands around Nick’s throat and squeezed until the light went out. He didn’t think about it, he didn’t hesitate, and he kicked the body when it was over before he untied me and wrapped me up in a blanket.”

“Oh, God,” she gasps. “How old were you when Nick died? I can’t remember.”

“Eleven. That’s why I wasn’t at the funeral.”

“Did your mom… Did
Melanie know?”

“Of course not. Dad took care of it. Of me. I never told anyone, but if you want to know why I’m so fucking paranoid, there it is. You tell me if I’m being irrational or not, because I honestly don’t fucking know anymore. But I saw what I saw, and it never left me.”

“I… fuck,” she breathes. “Fuck! Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because… there was never a good reason to. And the three of you were so tight, I guess.”

“I have pictures of him around the house, Isaac. I would have taken them down for you.”

“Just for me, huh?” I laugh. “Has anyone ever told you that you have extremely low standards for men?”

“What can I say? I compartmentalize people’s behavior.”

“Well, Dad doesn’t. He won’t need to be 100% sure it was us that did this to him. I don’t know, maybe we can go into the witness protection program or something, or maybe you can… while he’s in jail, you could find someone to…” I can’t even say it.

“We’re getting arrested, Isaac,” she confesses. “It’s just for show, but we’re still getting arrested.”

“We’re what?” Holy shit, when did that become part of the fucking plan?

“Obviously your lawyer didn’t tell you. I asked him not to, but I didn’t think he’d listen.”

“Nigel seems to be worried about my mental state,” I explain.

“Well, if this all goes down, we’re getting cuffed and locked up, but there’s nothing sexy about it,” she says.

“For how long?”

“Until we make bail. I’ll cover that, it’ll be very high.”

“How are we getting out of it in the long run?”

“My spectacular attorneys get some crucial evidence dismissed before it goes to trial. She was a gift, we weren’t buying, it won’t be difficult for them to spin it as ignorance on our part, publicly anyway, especially for you. Plus your girl likes you well enough because you’ve given her a better life. She’ll confirm that you didn’t know, so the only thing they’ll have is where she came from and how she got here, not what happened afterward.”

“I don’t know… that seems pretty risky, Glory.”

“The lawyers can explain better that I can. Don’t worry. Not only will your father be busy with his own problems, he’ll be happy that he isn’t dragging us down with him.”

“I sure fucking hope so,” I snap. “Obviously it needs to look like I have her for a while. How long do I have to keep up the charade?”

“Just for a few months. You need to get another apartment, something permanent, not the hotel.”

“I can get a second place for her to live, that’s not a problem. But Glory if you get arrested… what happens to you professionally?”

“I was always going to lose everything once Baron went down. Everything I’ve built is publicly traded, I report to a board that will oust me, justifiably so, which is why I’ll resign first. I’d prefer to be charged and exonerated, that’s part of the reason I negotiated it this way. At least it’ll clear my name of the worst of it, but I’ll be a pariah. My early success is far too linked with your father. I tried to figure out a way around it, but there just isn’t one,” she says sadly, taking a drag.