Page 139 of Everything Has Changed
Camila gasps from the middle of the room. “Richard!”
“So you blow up all of our lives just to leave? Yeah, it’s me with a loyalty issue, Pops.”
“I set you up for success! You ruined that.”
“No!” I shout, stepping closer to him. “You set yourself up for success. At the cost of all of us.”
“Don’t be so dramatic, Logan.” He steps behind his desk, bypassing Camila as she reaches out for him. I almost feel sorry for her as she flinches like she was the one hit. Almost.
Shoving the stacks of papers on his desk into his open briefcase, he doesn’t bother to give us attention.
“What are you doing?”
“I already told you. I’m leaving. I have a flight out of Charlotte in a couple hours. Y’all can enjoy your shit little town life.”
I slam my hand on the top of his briefcase, barely missing his hand as it snaps shut. He sighs, hanging his head low with his hands braced on the edge of the table.
“You think you just get to run away after all of this?”
“Yes, that was the plan all along. You just sped up the timeline because you couldn’t be happy with the empire I was handing over on a silver platter. And after that show you put on the other day, I know I shouldn’t have trusted you to carry on the Spencer family legacy. You’re a disgrace. You and your sniveling mother. You couldn’t be happy with having everything, could you?”
“Not when it’s at the expense of the people I care about.”
“You always were weak. I don’t know where I went wrong.” He shakes his head in disappointment.
“If caring about people is weak, then that’s fine by me. Better that than to be whatever you have become.” I toss a hand toward Camila. “You cheated on your wife. You stole money from the town for her.”
“Um, I’m right here.”
My father cuts his eyes to her. “I wouldn’t have stolen that money if she hadn’t threatened me.”
My eyebrows fly into my hair line as I move my gaze to her. Disgust rolls off me in waves that she must feel as she rolls her eyes, scoffing like I’m absurd.
“Please, like you wouldn’t have done the same.”
“You two are unreal. Really, you deserve each other. What I can’t understand is why you were so hell-bent on making sure I end up with her.”
“I needed you to give her the status that she wanted to get her off my ass.”
I release a low whistle, watching as Camila’s cheeks burn bright red with fury. I wouldn’t be surprised if lasers shot out of her eyes with how hard she was glaring at him. “You’re disgusting, Richard.”
He raises his hands to his sides with a shrug. “Yet you still come back every time.”
The screech she emits stabs into my ears. Stomping her foot down, she hustles her way to the office door. “Go to hell!” she shouts as she throws the door open and leaves.
“You know,” he starts as he locks his briefcase, “I can see why you didn’t want to tie yourself to her. She’s a piece of work.”
He starts making his way toward the door himself, only stopping when I yell his name.
“You really are going to leave us behind? Just destroy it all and run away, is that it?”
Whirling around to me, he levels me with a stare. “Don’t act like you need me now. You think you can do better than me,” he waves his arm around the room, “have at it. I’m done with all of you.”
“Answer me one thing. I think you owe me at least that.”
He sighs, his hand on the doorknob, ready to turn at a moment’s notice. “What is it, Logan?”
“Why did you do it all? Was the family with the loving wife and the son that wanted nothing more than to make you proud not enough? What about the town that would have done anything for you?”
