Chapter 18
Nico
My father was already at the bar when I got there. The bartender behind the counter tipped his head at me and I knew that dad was in his private room.
I entered while he was on the phone. The room was already filled with smoke from the cigarettes he had been chain-smoking. I pulled the cigar box out from my pocket and snapped it open.
My dad finished talking on the phone and before he said anything, he reached for a cigar instead. Picking one up, he brought it to his nose and sniffed.
“You always did have good taste in picking the best ones,” he commented and proceeded to light it. He lit mine too and we sat back in our chairs.
He seemed to be in a relatively better mood now and I wondered if this would be the perfect time to talk.
“The boys told me that you left from the job site early today?” he asked. I knew this was coming. I knew the men would have ratted me out. Especially after the punch I threw at one of them.
“Yeah, I had some shit to sort out,” I told him, trying to keep it casual.
“Shit with some girl?” dad asked. Even though I wasn’t looking at him, I could sense him watching me closely. I shrugged my shoulders.
“Something like that, yeah,” I replied.
My dad sighed deeply and shook his head.
“Apparently, she had a great pair of tits,” he continued and I clenched my jaws. Usually, this kind of talk about a girl never fazed me. Not even coming from my father. But anyone talking about Kennedy that way set off a rage in me. I needed to control it though. Punching my father in the face, like I’d punched the other guy, would be the last straw.
“Yeah, whatever, we need to talk, dad,” I tried to distract the conversation.
“Who is this chick? You banging her? Of course, you are!” he stuck to the same topic. This time, he even leaned over towards me and thumped my arm like it was some great achievement.
“We don’t need to talk about her. We have other important things to discuss,” I corrected him.
My father was grinning. He seemed to be enjoying making me uncomfortable. And now, he could sense that there was something going on with the girl from the job site.
“You hiding her from me or something?” he asked and I released a mouthful of smoke towards him.
“There’s nothing to hide. I’m banging her and she turned up at the job site, asking why I hadn’t called her. You know how these women get!” I remarked. I was willing to lie about Kennedy if I had to. Anything so that my father didn’t find out about her or the baby.
“Yeah, don’t I fucking know,” he grinned some more.
“Okay, what’s going on with the threats, dad? You’re keeping me out of the loop,” I said.
My father sighed and leaned back in his chair. He seemed annoyed with this conversation already.
“Keeping you in the loop would mean listening to your crazy talk. I can’t hold your hand right now, Nico. I have other things to worry about!” he snapped.
I clenched my jaws, gripping the cigar in my hand tighter.
“You need to let me fix this. You’ve had it your way for a very long time,” I replied and he arched his brows at me in surprise.
“And you want it your way now? Fuck you, son! As long as I’m alive, this business and this family is going to be run the way I command it to. If you want to take over and pussy-wash it; you’ll have to kill me first. You have the balls for that?”
We were glaring at each other.
The conversation had quickly turned from Kennedy’s breasts to threatening each other.
I breathed in the smoke of the cigar and some of the ash fell on the floor.
“I need you to trust me. Just let me go over the plans I have in mind,” I argued.
My father shook his head in frustration, waving his cigar in the air too.
“Out of the question. Over my dead body,” he continued.
“Fine. Then I fucking want out,” I growled.
A silence fell over us, while the words sank into his mind. He was staring at me like I’d just turned a knife in his back. It was a difficult thing for me to say to him. I’d been brought up to be loyal to the family. There had been nothing more important to me in my life.
But now I had a baby on the way, and a woman who made me happy. Who made me forget about the violence I’d committed.
“What did you say?” he hissed.
“If you don’t let me fix this. If you don’t hear me out…then I have no choice but to leave,” I said, meeting his raging eyes.
“Your duty is to your family first!” he snapped.
“Yes, which is what I’m trying to do. I have a plan to make this work. To get out us of the mess that’s been building up over the years,” I growled back.
“Plan. Plans! You sound like a fucking architect or something. Fuck your plans and you’re going nowhere. You are my son and you’re going to follow every command I give you!” he raged and I jumped out of my chair.
“You’re just a crazy old man whose going to get us all fucking killed,” I grunted.
I could hear him continuing to rage while I left the room.
Why had I even bothered to come here?
Maybe I was still clinging on to the hope that I would find traces of the man I used to idolize as a child. He was my father after all, my family. As well as I knew that I needed to leave, I had a child to think about now…I couldn’t just go without giving my father a chance to change.
It wasn’t going to happen.