AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Reese, your lack of manners is astounding,” her father drawled.
“Did I not tell you how far she has fallen?” Reed clucked.
“I seriously doubt you came all this way to tell me about my manners,” Reese glared at the two men seated on the couch. “What do you want?”
“I am here to settle a debt,” her father, Mitchell, smiled at her. “Since your grandfather is living under your care, I am holding you responsible for the money he owes to me. I am here to present you with my terms of restitution. Obviously, this little hovel you live in isn’t going to get me anything near what I have paid out on your grandfather’s behalf. I have come up with a new arrangement. Consider it a motivational opportunity for you. My daughter will finally be forced to make something of herself.”
Dread lodged in Reese’s stomach as she waited for him to continue.
“Mitchell and I have come to a mutual agreement,” Reed continued.
Reese knew they had to have practiced their speech. Reed never had much potential to see the bigger picture unless you spelled it out for him. She could imagine her father’s delight to have a malleable stooge to carry out his every whim. Reed wasn’t even smart enough to figure out her father was using him. They were cut from the same expensive imported cloth and stitched together with greed and malice.
“Since you cannot properly provide for my son, and you are determined to keep him away from me, we will be providing for his educational and emotional needs when he comes to live with my new wife and myself. In our home, he will have the very best of everything and have the chance to get to know his grandfather. An Ivy League education will have Mav taking his rightful place within the family business. He will not have to attend whatever community college plan you were thinking about if you have the capacity to plan for such things. My son will have a bright future. I am here to ensure that happens.”
“What?” Reese looked between the two men. Did they think she was going to let Mav live with them?
“Absolutely not. You two are not taking Mav anywhere. Reed, you left us, not the other way around. You moved us from North Carolina to Oklahoma, emptied our bank accounts, then vanished with a knocked-up used car model. You haven’t seen our son in seven years. He is fifteen, and in a few weeks, he will be sixteen. Do either of you know when his birthday is? Did you remember to ask about him? No, neither of you know anything about my son. The only people you think about are yourselves. Do you know what that does to a kid? What in the world would make either of you think he would want to go live with you?”
“It isn’t a matter of what the child wants,” her father told her. “He is still a minor.”
“Reese, you are being unreasonable. You have had him for seven years. I have not interfered, but now the boy needs strong male role models. He doesn’t need a woman anymore. Your job is done. I admit I have let it go on longer than I should have, but I am here now. Would you please try to think rationally? You have to see this is for the best. Don’t make me use force to take my son.”
“You what?” Reese paled.
Her father continued where Reed let off, not giving her a chance to say anything else. “I am owed a debt that you clearly cannot pay. This is the payment I want. Reed is his father. Young men need their fathers to show them how to succeed in the world. They don’t need some weak woman barely holding onto a falling-down house to show them how the world works. You can keep the old man. You can be his caretaker if that will make you happy, but the boy will be coming with us.”
Reese knew her mouth was moving, but nothing was coming out. It was like they were in some alternative universe. This cannot possibly be real. None of this was real. She was asleep in her bed, having a nightmare. Reese pinched her arm. When the pain radiated out from her fingers, she knew she was awake. This was happening. They were trying to take her baby.
“Reese, I can see you don’t understand. I know it is hard for a woman to grasp the concepts of how money works. After the sale of the house, I did leave you with enough money to get by. Judging by the condition of your current residence, you were wasteful with what I left. It should prove to you that we are right. The boy needs to be retrained to understand the advantages available to him,” Reed spoke slowly to her like you would a small child.
“Reed, you left me with an eight-year-old boy and a checking account with five hundred dollars. The bills you left me with were twelve thousand dollars. After the sale of the house, I got seven thousand dollars. You left your son, and the mother of your child broke. You didn’t give a damn if Mav had a roof over his head or food to eat. But don’t you worry, I made sure everything was paid in full, and we had a place to live that included enough food he didn’t go hungry. You couldn’t even be bothered to pay child support. I have no idea why you, for even one second, thought that you could come here spouting all your bullshit and think I would just agree with you. It just isn’t going to happen. Mav is staying with me. Pappy is staying with me. Now, I think it is time for you to leave.”
Reese rose from her seat on the chair furthest away from them. She crossed the living room and opened the front door waiting for them to get up. Neither did, but that didn’t discourage her.
“Reese, be sensible for once in your life,” Reed pleaded. “I don’t want to have to get the courts involved. Proving you are an unfit mother would take minimal effort on my part. Right now, this is your chance to be smart for once in your life.”
“You don’t want to fight us on this,” her father drawled, quickly losing interest in their conversation. In his mind, it was a done deal. No one dared to stand in his way, so it was unfathomable for Reese to tell him no repeatedly.
“You will lose. I already have the courts in motion to take the boy from you,” Mitchell smirked. “A few well-placed campaign contributions and a donation here and there will get you whatever you want. But since you are my daughter, I will give you a chance to correct your mistake. If you can come up with the amount I paid on behalf of your grandfather within the next two weeks, I will make this all go away. If not, I will be back here two weeks from today to collect the boy as payment in full.”
“You want me to sell my son for six hundred fifty thousand dollars?” Reese repeated in shock.
“Absolutely not. Selling children is illegal. You are merely choosing your child’s welfare over imposing him in this poverty where you enjoy living. The decision to be a selfless mother should be commended. More women should make the smart choice. The world would be a better place without so many coddled and soft men in it.”
“Where is your other kid?” Reese asked Reed. “I thought the model was pregnant. The child should be six. Why don’t you go enjoy your kid and leave Mav alone?”
“Girls are not cut out for this life. While she should grow into an exceptionally stunning woman who will be poised to make an advantageous pawn for me, she is a female. My son will be of more use to me right now than marrying off the girl to create a powerful match,” Reed explained.
“They are children,” Reese spoke slowly and clearly like they were talking to her. “Children are not meant to be used as pawns to create advantages for their parents. Do you hear the words that are coming out of your mouths? Selling one kid and then marrying the other off to some rich whatever for connections, this isn’t a tv show. These kids have lives of their own. Mav is not going to be your pawn, your cash cow, or have any part of whatever you two have dreamed up now. It is time for you to leave,” Reese once again pointed to the open door she was holding for them.
“I am sorry to have shackled you to her,” Mitchell apologized to Reed. “You did the best you could, but I understand why you left her. She is a weak woman with little understanding of how the world works. You are much better off with a stunning and silent wife than tied to an uneducated shrew.”
“Reese, Mav is my son. It is time for him to live with his father. If you cannot provide sufficient funds to prevent this misfortune, as you see it, then we will mold him into a man who is worthy of more than you could ever manage in your condition.”
“Get out,” Reese screamed. “I may not live in a mansion as you do, but you are not allowed to come into my home and threaten me. Get out now.”
“I see you are not feeling reasonable right now. I will leave these here for you to look over,” Reed laid a thick envelope on the coffee table before standing and striding to the door. “When you can behave more reasonably, we can discuss this further.”
