Page 61 of Never To Suffer

Congratulations, Alex!

Welcome aboard!

Can’t wait to meet you, Charles!

Where are all these coming from!?

I glance around the room and notice the camera coming down from the ceiling. My father didn’t announce that to the room of executive ass kissers, but to the whole damn company.

When my aunt finally looks up, she mouths, “I didn’t know,” before tapping on the edge of her tablet.

Melody Maxwell

The gift. Hurry! Before he cuts us off.

My brain cycles through the thousand things she could mean. My office? An assistant? No, it’s something else. Somethingbigger. Why would I need a gift if my father—SHIT. I pull out my phone and type frantically, hoping the message will send.

I’m not leaving you! Don’t believe anything they tell you! The furniture was a payoff!

I hit send and watch the bar slide across the screen. I’m not even sure if she’s been home yet, so she may not have a clue what I’m talking about, but at least there’s some warning. The bar stalls halfway through sending and stops. This isn’t good. Since when has my father had enough tech know-how to lock me out like this? He couldn’t even come up with this idea, he can barely send an email without crashing the security system.

Unable to send messages. Please try again.

I smash the button again, but I get the same results. I check the agenda and, sure enough, there’s a fifteen-minute break after this.Fifteen minutes.He ruins my life and thinks it will only take fifteen minutes to smooth this over and make it right. When the meeting ends, I don’t even wait for him, bee lining to his office and already pacing when he walks in, my aunt and Oliver close behind him.

“What the fuck?!” I scream. It feels good, especially since the door hasn’t closed yet.

“Alex, I can explain.”

“Yeah, I don’t think you can. Tricking me to coming here, thinking you can buy Dani off with some furniture, broadcasting it to the whole damn company, and blocking my damn phone?”

“Alex, you’re thirty years old! You have no job, no future. We’ve put up with your games, we’ve played along in some cases, but not anymore. I will not allow you to single-handedly ruin the Maxwell name and reputation.”

“I refuse the position. You can shove it right up your pompous asses, every damn one of you pricks.” I storm for the door.

“You can’t leave Japan, Alex. I’ve frozen the credit card and told the plane it doesn’t leave under any authorization but my own.” His voice doesn’t tremble, it doesn’t even raise. The calm is unsettling.

“First off, fuck you. Second off, I will find a way home. You can’t keep me here!”

“You are home, Alex.” My father spreads his arms wide like he’s Jesus at the last supper or some shit.

“LAis my home.Daniis my home!” I scream back. “And while we’re at it, my fucking name isXander.”

“I’ll give you two weeks to finish your freelance jobs, settle up, and close out your dealings with your clients. After that, you’ll be here in the office full time with Oliver and Melody, helping you get accustomed to your new role.” It’s like he hasn’t heard a word I’ve said, like my opinion and my life means nothing to him other than to move it around like a chess piece. He plays at shuffling papers around on his desk, his way of ending the conversation and dismissing me. “Son, if you continue to act defiant, we’ll cut you off completely and you’ll hear from our lawyer about arrangements for back payments.”

“Back what?”

“We took you into our home, clothed you, raised you, gave you every opportunity to succeed, and you’ve done nothing but squander everything we’ve done for you. If nothing else, we’ll be seeking repayment for every cent we’ve given you, in whatever format, since you turned eighteen. The legal team has the paperwork drafted.”

I pull my wallet out of my back pocket and slip two hundred-dollar bills out, slapping them down on his desk. “Here, keep the change.”

“Alexander—”

“No! You want to talk about back payments? How about the therapy sessions, trauma, and humiliation? The years of being raised in a cold, heartless home and the abuse I lived through at those damn schools you sent me to. You knew what would happen to me. You always knew. And when I tried to tell you, you told me to stop being so dramatic.” I can’t control my voice or keep the tears back. “You want dramatic,Dad? Fine, you have no son. You don’t deserve one. Get another dog.”

I don’t wait for a response, walking out the door and slamming it shut behind me. I expect him to yell after me, chase me down and threaten me more, but if he does, I don’t hear him. Before I can press the button for the elevator, a familiar hand reaches out and presses it for me.

“Uhm, you probably don’t want to see me right now, but Melody had a feeling it would come to this and asked me to, well, look out for you.”

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