I look at my smartphone as I climb out of the taxi, realizing that I’m already half an hour late. Crap! I bet they’re already at the restaurant, and I really didn’t want to be the last one in today. Oh well, there’s nothing I can do now.

I stroll inside of The Oak Room with my head held high, ready to face the scrutiny of my oh-so-friendly family. Perhaps I shouldn’t have brought this dress, low cut and tight fitting, but I couldn’t help myself. Sloane and Drake are going to be here, and I have to dress to impress. Besides, my mother hardly approves of anything I do, so why bother?

The three of them are sitting at a table on the far end of the room, and that’s where I head to. “Sorry I’m late, the traffic was --”

“Of course you’re late,” my mother tells me, turning her bright eyes toward me. Her lips are pursed, and there’s a frown on her face; she hates people who are late with a passion, and I guess that hate extends to her own daughter.

“Well, you know me,” I shrug, taking my place at the table without looking at either Drake or Sloane. I don’t want them to think I’m playing favorites.

“I do know you, Natalie,” she says with a faux sigh, and I almost expect to add an ‘unfortunately’ at the end of her sentence. That’s my mother, always eager to praise her daughter. Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate my mother; it’s just that she’s hard to love.

God, I need a drink.

I reach for the bottle of red wine sitting on the table and fill my glass. I take a gulp out of the wine, it’s oaky flavor coating my tongue, and take a deep breath. Let’s see what this is all about.

“So, why are we here, mom? Did I forget your birthday or something?” I ask her, already aware that whatever’s coming has to be important. After all, why would she even want her stepson and ex-husband here? Mom has never been the kind of woman to cherish her loved ones, and besides, I don’t think there’s any love lost between her and Drake anyway.

“Don’t be silly, Natalie,” she says in that scolding tone of hers, the way my name rolls out of her lips making me feel like a child again. Not a good feeling. “I wanted you all here because I have an important announcement to make. Since you’re family, I thought you should be the first ones to know.”

Yeah, right, I think to myself. My mother would've never called us here if she didn’t want something out of us. Perhaps she wants a piece of my company as well? No, it can’t be that; she’s Lady Decency through and through (or at least that’s what she wants everyone to think), and she’d never go near something as racy as my company. Her loss, really. I think that if she bought a few of my toys she’d stop being so uptight. Ugh, I can’t believe I’m saying this about my own mother.

“So?” Drake asks from the other end of the table, he has his elbows there, and his fingers are laced in a patient posture; still, everything in him tells me that he’d rather be anywhere but here with his ex-wife. “Out with it, Linda.”

I look from him to my mother, and I swear I can almost see the hint of a grin creeping up on her lips. Instead, she just flashes him a humble smile and looks around the table, her gaze going from Drake to Sloane, and then from Sloane to me. I can tell she’s taking her time, allowing the tension to rise before she finally makes her dramatic revelation. She always had a flair for drama.

“I’m going to run for mayor,” she finally says, the words hanging in the air like grey clouds.

“Mayor? But Michael Anders has been your friend for --”

“This isn’t about Mayor Anders or about me. This is about New York and what’s best for the city,” she cuts me off, her explanation so cold I can almost feel the temperature in the room dropping.

Michael Anders has been the mayor for as long as I remember, and my mother always loved to brag about her friendship with the ‘humble and devoted mayor’, as she liked to call him whenever we had guests at our house. I guess that friendship’s over then.

“Yeah, and what the fuck does that have to do with me?” Sloane suddenly chimes in, reaching for the glass of whisky in front of him and downing the whole thing at once. “Did you just call us here to wish you good luck?”

“No, not at all,” my mom replies, and this time there’s a smile on her face. She looks almost ten years younger now, and I have a glimpse of what she looked like when she was my age. Blonde and fair-skinned, she was part of the New York elite, dazzling the whole city with how beautiful she was.

She still looks good for her age, but there are a few wrinkles showing up on her face now. The lines are barely perceptible, though, but I can tell that not one of them is the result of excessive smiling. To my mother, a smile and a laugh were merely tools to get whatever she wanted. And, oh boy, did she know how to laugh and smile; I guess she just never did it enough for it to show on her face.

“I called you here,” she starts after one of her dramatic silences, “because I need you all to put forth your best behavior.” Her gaze turns to me, and I feel a knot in my stomach. I don’t like where this is going, not one bit.

“It’s not like we’re savages, mom,” I tell her, but she just waves my comment away, her smart eyes locked on mine.

“I need you to sell your company, Natalie,” she finally tells me, the words hitting me at full force. I look back at her, completely stunned. Does she realize what she’s asking? She wants me to give up my business? To throw away all my ambitions, dreams, and success? And all this because she wants to be mayor. That’s rich.

“No,” I reply flatly, pursing my lips and staring her down. No way I’m going to get rid of Dirty ‘Lil Angels; that company’s my life. And besides, I’m working on a new prototype that’s going to turn my company into a veritable contender in the business arena. All I need is to roll my profits into development and secure the right investment, and now that both Drake and Sloane are vying for my attention, that seems more and more like a sure thing.

“She’s right, you know?” Drake cuts in, leaning back in his chair and looking at my mother with one arched eyebrow. “You can’t pop out of nowhere and ask us to change our lives just because you want to play politics.”

“Do you think this is a game, Sloane?” she asks him, turning to him so fast it almost seems supernatural. “I’m begging you, all of you… I can’t afford to have my family involved in any kind of scandal,” she continues, but I know she isn’t begging; she’s ordering us to play nice. Or else.

“I won’t be courting any kind of scandal… It’s not on my schedule,” I say, more and more pissed off with her. “But there’s no way I’m getting rid of my company.”

“You will make that company go away,” she replies, staring me down with her icy eyes. “It needs to happen, whether you like it or not, Natalie, and in the end it’s what’s better for you.”

“Don’t presume to know what’s better for me!” I cry out, jumping out from my seat and staring right back at her. A few heads are turning toward us, but I don’t care. But there’s someone who cares.

“Lower your voice, for God’s sake!” My mom hisses, conscious that we’re slowly becoming the center of all attention. Realizing that the situation is getting out of control, she grabs her purse and goes up to her feet. “Think it over, Natalie. We’ll talk about it later,” she tells me, and then turns on her heels and bolts out of the restaurant, walking with an elegant and poised gait that just pisses me off even more.

“She’s fucking nuts,” Sloane breathes out, watching her leave the restaurant with an amused expression on his face. Clearly, everything that Linda said went right by him.

“Hey, she’s still your stepmother,” Drake scolds him, and Sloane straightens up in his chair, the tension rises between the two of them.

“It’s not like she fucking acts like it,” he starts, and I realize I have to stop this before everything spins out of control. Yeah, what a lovely family reunion.

“Well, maybe it’s your fault. Maybe if you didn’t behave like a child all of the time, people would respect you more.”

“Respect? You’re just jealous of what happened between Natalie and I,” he shoots at Drake, balling his hands into fists.

“I’m not the one trying to impress her right now. Your bad boy act isn’t working, Sloane.”

If they keep going like this they might end up trading punches. That’s what my mother accomplished; she warned us to avoid scandal and now here we are, ready for a boxing match at The Oak Room.

“STOP IT!” I cry out, slamming both my hands on the table and looking from one to the other. “This has gone too far, and it stops this very moment,” I tell them, my words as solid as concrete. “Here’s what I’m going to do; I’m going to get us a room right now, and you have two options. One, you stay right here and fight like kids. Two, you come with me and we stop all this nonsense.” Taking a move out of my mom’s playbook, I let my words hang in the air while I pause dramatically, and only then continue. “Your choice.”

I turn on my heels and head out of the restaurant, walking straight toward the hotel on the other side of the street. This insanity stops now.