Page 177 of Tall, Royal Hater
A sad smile tilted the corner of his mouth. “If it had been anyone other than Esmeralda, I doubt they would have ever forgiven me. I’m immensely lucky that she had a big enough heart to give me a chance to redeem myself.” He shook his head.“But don’t take it out on current and potential relationships. You’ll have no one left around you. Take it out on the man who caused it instead.”
I took a moment to really let his words sink in, then nodded. “I understand.”
That night I sat in bed and sent an email from my phone.
Re: Shehryar
From: Me
Tell me when you return to Jahandar.
I’d like to meet.
I looked over it several times, debating for a long minute before adding to it.
Here’s my number.
I glanced between Andrew Platmon and my…my half-sister, Ablah, as we sat in an uncomfortable silence around a circular table in a quiet coffee shop, a one-hour drive from Jahmal Palace, and a three-hour flight from the Region of Rustam, where they lived.
I took a sip of my cappuccino as Ablah cleared her throat loudly. She widened her brown eyes at our father like a scolding mother trying to silently warn her child. “Dad. There’s something you need to say, isn’t there?”
He adjusted the lapels of his blazer and shifted in his seat. “Yes, I…I’m—”
“We’re,” she corrected.
“We’resorry for what Johnny did and said that night.” He lifted his chin. “I knew how he reacted to finding out about you, and I knew he wasn’t happy that you were coming to Ablah’s party. I had some understanding of how he was going to behave, but I didn’t do anything to stop him. I should have. But I failed you the way I had done a decade ago, and that’s on me. I apologise. I shouldn’t have stood back and let him insult you. But Johnny…”
Andrew Platmon sighed and shook his head, while Ablah sank closer to him with a twisted pout. “I failed him too in ways different to how I failed you.” He paused. “Losing you made me…harsh on him. I put a lot of pressure on him, not as a replacement for you, but I demanded a lot. Maybe too much, and we haven’t had the best relationship as a result. Finding out about you didn’t help. It seemed to give him a reason as to my…treatment, and that, on top of discovering I was changing my will to include you, turned him very bitter and angry.”
So, Johnny wasn’t exactly the perpetrator either. He’d suffered too. Maybe he didn’t deserve being beaten bloody, but he still deserved that first punch for what he’d said.
“I have a lot to work on when it comes to the both of you,” our father continued. “I cannot promise to be perfect, but I will do better. And hopefully, one day, you two might see eye to eye.”
“Not with the black eye he’s currently got,” Ablah murmured. She leaned across the table with an intrigued smile. “I’m not going to lie, I would like you to teach me how to punch like that.”
“Ablah,” Andrew Platmon grumbled in a scold.
“What?” She shrugged. “I should know how to defend myself.”
My mouth gave the slightest twitch of amusement. She was like a combined version of Mariyah and Esmeralda.
“How is he?” I asked without remorse or sympathy.
“Bruised, face and ego wise, but patched up and recovering,” she answered and sipped her latte.
I stared at my coffee cup as I considered how to word my thoughts aloud. “I don’t think he and I will see eye to eye anytime soon, not if he insists on degrading the people I care about. Nor can I really say that I’m sorry for hitting him, because I’m not.” I raised my gaze to Ablah. “But I’m sorry that I ruined your party, and…” I shifted my attention to our father. “I shouldn’t have let my anger escalate the way it did after. But you have to understand, my anger runs deep and has done for a long time now. It’s not going to magically fade away, and I’m not going to pretend I suddenly like you either.”
The hope in Andrew Platmon’s eyes waned.
“But,” I continued. “I would be open to staying in touch and working towards some sort of understanding.”
A slow but small smile spread over my father’s mouth. “I would appreciate that.”
“But I don’t want your money,” I added firmly. “And I don’t want to be on your will.”
His smile dropped. “It’s not what you think it is,” he said, shaking his head. “I’m not trying to buy your forgiveness nor my way back into your life. You’re my son, Shehryar. You’re entitled to my wealth in the same way Ablah and Johnny are. I want to give a part of it to you. And maybe, yes, there was a small part of me that hoped this could be a part of my redemption, but it was never supposed to be an insult, and I had intended to tell you properly before I made it official.”
