Page 55 of Room Service

I ran my hands over my face, feeling done with it all.

“Why can’t I go back home?” I wondered out loud. “I miss the mountains. It’s so much easier to hide from it all there. Hide from them.”

I couldn’t just up and leave, though. No matter how much resentment I held for my father, he was still my family, and I had my obligations. I had no intention of dropping them and leaving because I wanted to hide. It would be too shameful; my pride would never be okay with it.

There was another knock on the door, and I looked at it curiously with a small frown. If it was the secretary coming back to ask authorization for more meetings, I was going to refuse this time.

“Come in,” I called.

The door opened, and I was shocked to see Emily come in.

“What are you doing here?” I blurted, but really, I was just surprised she was polite this time, even taking the time to knock. It was a far cry from her behavior when she was last here.

“I came to see you,” she said matter-of-factly.

She was dressed more or less the same as the last time I saw her, in a designer dress and a pair of heels, with painted nails and her hair styled to fall around her shoulder, down her back. Only the colors were darker than last time, and I didn’t know if that was a clue to her mood or not.

“What did you come to see me about?” I asked cautiously.

She sighed as she slumped into the chair across my desk and looked up to meet my eyes with a determined gaze.

“It’s about Dad,” she said.

Immediately, I perked up. “What, did something happen?”

She waved a hand at me. “Don’t get so alarmed; Dad is fine. In fact, he’s always been fine. There was never a heart attack. Maybe a little heartbreak but that’s it.”

“I’m sorry?”

“How many ways can I say this, big brother?” she said with a heavy sigh, jumping out of the chair to pace the room, arms crossing over her chest. It was just like last time, only I figured this time around she had a different reason for not wanting to look at my face. “Dad deceived all of you, and he made me keep his secret. He wanted you guys to come back home, and he wanted you to help expand the business. He hasn’t been ill at home at all. Honestly, it’s like he’s on vacation or something.”

What the fuck?

I narrowed my eyes at her, not wanting to believe it. I liked to think I knew my little sister a bit more than I did before, and I didn’t think she would lie about something like this. It was just so hard to believe my dad would come up with such a devious plan, all for what? To have me and my brothers back home, working hard for him, as it should be?

Seriously, Dad?

“Is everything you just said true?” I asked.

Emily met my gaze and nodded, tilting her chin up slightly at my hard look, clearly refusing to be cowed. “Yes,” she said simply.

Fuck.

I didn’t ask anything more, taking her word for it. I stood up, picked up my coat, and left the room. Emily called out to me, but I ignored her. I stopped at the secretary’s desk.

“I’ll be leaving now,” I said, ignoring her shocked reaction. “My father will be back in the office soon. Let him know the progress.”

“Sir?”

I kept on walking. If Dad didn’t show up for his job, then that was his problem. I’d wasted enough time around here. Dad hadn't bothered to see any of us, me, Mason, or Kevin, and all because he was pretending to be ill? I was already on the verge of breaking, and Emily’s confession was the last straw for me.

I went back to my room at the hotel and cleared it out. I had some stuff at the mansion, but it wasn’t anything I couldn’t live without. I’d let myself get fooled because of my concern for my father, and I wanted to go off and lick my wounds and pretend none of this ever happened, back to my mountains. I hadn't eaten, but I didn’t even pause as I packed my stuff up, went down to my car, jumped in and drove for home.

The perfect escape, I thought to myself. The perfect little reason to run away from everything.

Maybe it was unfair, but I couldn’t help but think of Jessi’s disappearance in light of my dad’s betrayal. I’d wanted to see her, to find her as Emily said, but right then, I killed that idea.

Jessi leaving me had hurt badly enough. It had hurt a lot deeper than I was willing to admit. It had been so easy for her to leave, that I wondered what she thought of me. I’d never given her reason to think anything positive of me, so that was my fault.

But the short time we’d had together had been so sweet. While I was with her, I had felt so different from how I was every day for the past decade. I’d harbored some hope, I’d hoped to help Dad out and that she and I could work something out.

Jessi threw that away, not me. I realized the thing holding me back, besides the fear, was the hurt. If I went after her, wouldn’t she just throw me away again? Just like my father, who was now resulting to tricks to try and get me to return to the fold when all he had to do was fucking talk to me like I was his son, not his heir.

I’d anticipated getting back home so much, but my arrival was completely anticlimactic. Once I got back, I went inside, leaving my suitcase in the car, and headed straight for my bedroom. I had a balcony with a perfect view of the mountains, and I breathed a sigh as I stood there, looking out.

I watched the sunset from the mountains, feeling lost for the second time in my life, the first time having been after my mom’s death.

What the fuck was I supposed to do now?