“Dad. What the hell are you doing here?”

Garrett was more tired than he could ever remember being in his life. He was more tired than he had been even in his partying days, back in college when nothing had really struck him as all that important. He was both physically and mentally exhausted, and yet when he realized his father was sitting in his hotel room, the adrenaline that shot through him was extreme. It was the kind of jolt to the heart that he wasn’t sure he would survive, and it made him beyond furious. He’d sat in his car for a long, long time after leaving his mom’s room. He’d sat there and asked himself if any of this was really worth it. His life may not have meant a whole lot back in Colorado, but at least it had been easy. People always talked about how it was important to have a meaningful life instead of an easy one, but what the hell did they know? What was the point in the struggle when it never got any easier? All he had wanted to do was mess around and live an easy life in Colorado, and yet his dad had forced his hand, forced him to leave the life he knew. Almost everything he’d come up against since getting to New York had been a bunch of shit, and there was a large part of him that wanted nothing more than to put his car in drive and haul ass out of town. It would have been the easiest thing in the world to do that, to just get out of town. The only thing he would have missed was Finnley, and that was something he could have lived with. Eventually, he could have lived with it. He knew that, and he knew that it probably made the most sense to just up and bail, and yet for some reason, he found himself returning his car to the hotel’s valet and trudging back up to his room. What he wanted was to finally get a little bit of sleep. What he got instead was an almost heart attack. He shouldn’t have been surprised. It was just a continuation of the shit show that had been his day thus far.

“Seriously, Dad, what the hell?”

“Watch your tone, son.”

“Okay, cool, I’ll watch my tone if you go ahead and agree not to break into my hotel room anymore. What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“Waiting for you, that’s what I’m doing. And I’ve been doing it for a long time, too. Where the hell have you been?”

“I’ve been out, okay? I had a lot to do. I had a lot on my plate.”

“A lot on your plate. Huh. Alright, fine. I suppose I can give you that, although I’m not certain how that could be possible seeing as you’ve yet to really do anything useful with your new New York life. Even so, are you telling me that you’re too busy to answer your phone? Because I find that very, very hard to believe. Everyone has the time for their phone so unless you’ve spent the whole day in a hospital or a courthouse where they took your phone away from you, you're going to have to give me something more than that.”

“Dad, are you even listening to yourself? You broke into my room, sat in here in the dark all day like some kind of a mob boss or something, and you’re getting on my case about not answering my phone? I don’t know if you’ve been told this before but your conception of boundaries is way off base.”

“We’re not here to talk about me.”

“You’re right, Dad, we’re not here for anything. I’m here because it’s my room. I don’t have any idea what you’re doing here. Aside from trying to exert this weird power you seem to think you have.”

“Believe me, son, I have more power than you realize. You don’t want to test me. You really, really don’t.”

“Are you the one who did it?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Moreover, I don’t care. Whatever shit you’ve got going on in your personal life, and I’m sure there’s plenty of it, is no concern of mine.”

Garrett’s father rose, and while his voice was nothing but disdain, his body language told a different story. It was something many people would have undoubtedly missed, but Garrett wasn’t just anybody. This was a man he had grown up around. He had not only seen his formidable father rip people to shreds over the phone when they didn’t comply with his wishes, he had also witnessed the sometimes-terrifying fights between his parents. The senior Wallace was a man of incredible control when it came to his own person, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have his tells. Garrett could see some of those tells now; the way his dad cracked his knuckles as he stood, the way he rolled his neck as if it had a crick. These were some of his tells, and it let Garrett know he was getting under his dad’s skin.

“Remind me to get a game of poker going between the two of us when this is all over,” he muttered to himself, loud enough that his dad could hear him but not really caring anymore. He wanted his father to understand that whatever bullshit he was trying to pull wasn’t going completely undetected. At least he was pretty sure that was what he wanted. When his eyes locked with his dad’s and he saw how cold they were, he wasn’t too sure anymore. There was a danger there, a danger he might have been underestimating up to that point.

“What kind of nonsense are you talking about, Garrett? What kind of foolishness is this?”

“So, it’s foolish then, just because things aren’t going exactly how you wanted? I want to know the truth, Dad. I want you to tell me if you’re the one who sent her.”

“I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about.” He waved his hand dismissively, helping himself to some of the scotch from the bar. “And as I said, I don’t have time.”

“Fine. We’ll do it your way, then. What is it that you want?”

“We need to talk about work.”

“About work? Is this a joke?”

“Of course, it’s not a joke. Do I ever joke about things related to work?”

“No, I guess you don’t. One of the things you hold sacred, isn’t it?”

“As it should be. It should be for you, as well. My hope is that if we work together for long enough, some of my sense will rub off on you.”

“Don’t hold your breath. What do you want?”

“Please, Garrett, enough. You remind me so much of your teenage-self right now it makes me want to put a fist through the wall. Can you just speak to me like an adult? I brought you here under the assumption that you could, but if that’s not the case—”

“It’s fine, Dad. I’m good. You want to talk? Talk. Tell me what you came here to say.”

“Alright, if you’re certain that you’re ready. I want to make well sure that you’re focused. I don’t want to waste my time.”

“No, of course not. God forbid.”

“Jesus, Garrett—”

“No, I’ll stop. Just tell me why you’re here. I’m tired, and I want to get some rest. I’m still not sure whether or not you already know this, but I had a crazy ex breaking down my door pretty early this morning, and I’m beat.”

“Fine,” he answered without missing a beat, only deepening Garrett’s suspicion that he had some involvement with Becky’s reappearance. “We’ll make this fast. We need to talk about Cubed.”

“Sure, alright. I wasn’t exactly planning on doing this now, but it’s not a bad thing for us to talk about. I’ve been wondering a lot about that company.”

“Have you now? I must say, I’m a bit surprised to hear it. From everything I’ve witnessed, you’ve got very little interest in the company, aside from some of our female employees. Or one of them in particular, perhaps?”

“I’m expressing interest now, aren’t I? Why don’t we just use that as a base. Maybe declare a ceasefire for the moment. Honest to God, Dad, I’m pretty tired at the moment. I don’t have the energy for the whole game of verbal chess.”

“Fine. Why don’t you tell me what you’ve been wondering about our company?”

“Mostly what I’m doing at Cubed to begin with. It doesn’t seem like there’s much for me to do, even if I were going for employee of the month or something.”

“You’re there to watch the employees, Garrett. You’re there to make sure they all stay in line.”

“In line with what though? It’s hard to get people to stay in line and do their jobs when they don’t know what those jobs are supposed to be. They’re used to having tasks to perform, Dad. And they’re used to those tasks meaning something. These are some pretty talented people, you know? They’ve done some pretty impressive things, both on the books and off.”

“I’m well aware. Why else do you think I would have purchased the company? It wasn’t for the catchy name, you know.”

“Great,” Garrett answered through clenched teeth, willing himself not to take his father’s bet. “Wonderful. I’m glad we’re in agreement. Which means you realize why they won’t be content to just sit on their asses for much longer. My guess is that the only reason they’ve done it for this long is because they’re trying to be polite and get along in the face of a regime change.”

“A regime change? Christ, son, are you really calling my ownership of a little start-up company a regime? I think you may be giving me too much credit.”

“You know what I mean. People tend to be on their best behavior when faced with a new boss. That only lasts so long, and my guess is that your grace period is just about up.”

“Don’t you mean our grace period?”

“Sure, Dad. Let’s call it our grace period.”

“Yes,” Mr. Wallace said loftily, sipping his drink as if listening to what his son had to say was a kindness of sorts, merely an indulgence. “I know this. Which is why we’re going to hold a company-wide meeting tomorrow. You know the kind of thing I mean. Bagels, fruit trays, make them feel appreciated. After we let them do a little socializing, we’ll let them know the plan.”

“Which is?”

“The company is going in a new direction.”

“Cool. Kind of figured as much. Any intention of telling me what the direction is?”

“What interests people in this country more than anything? Not even in this country, Garrett, but in the world?”

“I have no idea, Dad, and frankly I’m not in the mood for playing a guessing game. Any chance you might just tell me and get it over with?”

“Son, if you want to own a business, you’ve got to start using your head.”

“Noted, but this is not the time. I told you, I’m too fucking tired for this. Just tell me, or else this conversation is over.”

“Gossip, my boy. That’s what. People love gossip; they eat it up like candy. They want to know everything about everyone, and they don’t care if it’s true or not.”

“So we’re going to start making shit up about people?”

“No, we’re not. That tends to work best for people who nobody knows, but what good does that do when you’re trying to make money? Although it’s not a bad thing to put on the backburner. We could always help people with that kind of a thing, for a price, of course.”

“Help people with…? Dad, what are you talking about?! None of this makes any sense!”

“Then allow me to explain. I’ve purchased a company of hackers, have I not?”

“That’s not all they do.”

“Humor me. Essentially, at their very base, that’s what they are, correct? Or rather it is one of the things they are able to be, given the appropriate incentive.”

“Okay, fine, why not? I’ll agree, if it’ll make you explain yourself. Which would be great, by the way.”

“Gossip, son. It’s one thing that isn’t ever going out of style, and we’ve got people able to find anything in the world, about anybody in the world. They can get into all of those private places where people don’t want us to go. I like the idea of adding normal people into the mix, that only increases our income, but the main focus is on the rich. And why wouldn’t it be, right? They put themselves out there. They asked for it, didn’t they?”

“Hold on,” Garrett asked, feeling numbed out by the shock of what he was hearing and completely baffled. “Are you telling me you want to turn the company into nothing more than part of the gossip mill? Is that seriously what you’re trying to tell me right now?”

“Don’t sound so condescending, Garrett. You’re not some naive kid. You’re aware, or at least you should be aware, of the fact that business is messy. If you want to make real money, you have to get your hands dirty.”

“Which I’m sure you have no problem doing whatsoever, right? I bet it’s your favorite part of every day.”

“I do what needs to be done. And I’ve done my research, Garrett. The amounts of money people will pay for the kind of information we’ll be getting is astronomical.”

“Yeah, and this whole thing is also totally, one hundred percent illegal. Have you thought about that? You’re making it sound like you’ve planned this whole thing out to perfection, so tell me how you’re planning on getting around the fact that you want to base our whole company around something that’s totally illegal?”

“Why do you think I wanted the best hackers, son? They don’t get caught. They never have, and I don’t imagine they’ll start now. It’s going to work, son.”

“And you don’t think people are going to start getting suspicious? You don’t think they’re going to start wondering what our company does?”

“Honestly? No, I don’t. People don’t really care what’s going on around them if it doesn’t pertain to them. And if it looks like there’s going to be snooping, I’ll have busy work ready. It will always look like your run of the mill, boring tech company. That’s part of what makes it so innovative, Garrett.”

“Innovative? Is that what you think it is? Because I call it bullshit. Every time I think you’re the lowest kind of man you can be, you do something new and surprise me all over again.”

“That’s fine, Garrett,” the elder Mr. Wallace said coolly, tossing back the rest of his drink and getting to his feet. “You can think you’re better than this all you want. I’ll remind you, though, they you’ve had no problem benefiting from my money in the past. My money has made you a millionaire, in fact, and I’ve never heard any complaints.”

“I never knew that you were doing criminal things to get paid.”

“You never cared. My guess is that you never would have if I hadn’t made you get your hands dirty. Just remember, boy, you’ve got plenty of my questionably earned money in your bank account at the moment. And there are other ways for me to keep you in line, if need be. I’d prefer you not put me in the position of having to use those methods, but I’ve spent a lifetime building my empire. There is absolutely no way I will let a man, even if that man is my son, undo all of my work. Do we understand each other?”

“We do. Perfectly, unfortunately.”

“Good,” he nodded curtly, his expression making in clear that as far as he was concerned the issue was now resolved. “It’s a learning process, Garrett. It’s hard at first, but it’ll get easier. Before too long you won’t even think about it anymore. It’ll just be another part of your day.”

Garrett said nothing, just watched his dad collect his jacket, pour another glass of liquor and down it in one gulp, and start for the front door of the hotel suite. He was almost gone, almost out of Garrett’s hair so that he could finally get some sleep, when Garrett spoke again. Later, once he was finally on his own, he would think back on that moment and wonder what in the hell had made him do it. If anything, this conversation had made it clear that there were no lines that his father would not cross. That made him the most dangerous kind of man and certainly not one you wanted to back into the proverbial corner. Garrett knew this. He knew this and somehow, it didn’t keep his mouth shut.

“Tell me, Dad. How would you feel if somebody used the kinds of services you’re proposing for Cubed against you?”

“Against me?” he asked, never turning around to look at his son as he spoke in his most dangerous tone of voice. “Why would they use services against me? I’m an open book, Garrett. What you see is what you get.”

“Oh yeah? Then why don’t you tell me about my grandparents, Dad? You know, the ones you’ve always told me were dead? Why don’t you tell me a little bit about the fact that they’re both still alive and well? Because you can feel free to correct me if I’m wrong, but that sounds like a pretty massive fucking secret to me.”

“A word of advice, son. Be very careful where you go from here. It would be such a shame if something were to happen to you. I would hate to have my only son meet with an unfortunate accident or something. And think about your mother. Just having gotten you back in her life, only to lose you? It would be such a shame.”

And then his father was gone, leaving Garrett to contemplate the truth depth of the threat his own father had just made against him. He considered whether or not it was real, whether or not his dad would follow through with it if need be. In the end, there was never really any question. He would do exactly that, Garrett thought, and he would think nothing of it whatsoever.