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“Love, it’s a family dinner. Even Aleida and Arthur are going to sit with us instead of eating in the nursery. Won’t you please be with us?”
I roll my eyes at my Mom. “You’re the only one that wants me there. Dad hates me right now, so why make both of our evenings miserable by forcing us to eat together?”
“He doesn’t hate you, Andries! He’s just under so much stress from work and all of the terrible things in the news about Karl. He isn’t himself, but if he sees that you’re willing to extend the olive branch first, he’ll come around.”
“No means no, Mom.” At the pained look in her eyes, and the sheen of tears threatening to fall, I sigh heavily. “You want to take a walk around the grounds? Or a drive? Just mother and son stuff?”
Mom considers it, but shakes her head. “No, not today. I’d love to, but nothing sits right with me while you and your dad are at odds.”
“Take it or leave it, Mom.”
She blinks rapidly to clear away her misty eyes, tilts her chin up stubbornly, and storms out in the way only a Van Den Bosch woman can, slamming the door so hard some of my fencing trophies rattle.
I pull my headphones back over my ears and fall backward onto my bed.
With my dad’s birthday party being so close, everyone in the house is getting tense about the cold silence between me and Dad. After all, family is coming from all over the world for the gathering, and we are supposed to be on our best behaviorand looking as united as possible. It just isn’t going to happen, though. I just need to be left alone.
I haven’t talked to anyone back in Amsterdam, except for a few text exchanges with Dan, and I’m becoming more and more nervous that maybe Patricia is going to back out of the court case and withdraw her statement. I’m trying to put it out of my mind since there is nothing I can do while I’m here, but the thought continues to creep in.
Then there’s Roxanne. Her agency hasn’t been featured much in the news coverage, but there have been a few clips of her entering and exiting her office building, and it seems like she’s instructed her escorts to arrive dressed in black with their faces completely covered to keep their identities private. Most of the time, no one would care who is an escort and who isn’t, but with the media so hungry for anything to do with Karl, even the uninvolved escorts would be fair game for media scrutiny.
Roxanne, of course, goes bare faced for the world to see, drawing attention away from her employees. Doing her best to protect them, like she does everyone else in her life. Damn, I miss her. I miss that woman so much that is beyond ridiculous. It has been nearly two months since we broke up. How come I’m still missing her like this?
While scrolling through songs on my phone, an alternative rock playlist blaring from my headphones, Elise manages to enter my room without me noticing. I do notice her, though, when she yanks the headphones off of me and throws them onto the other side of the bed.
“Ow! What the fuck, Elise!” I yell, rubbing my abused ears.
She puts her hands on her hips and glares down at me. “You want to tell me why Mom is crying?”
“Menopause?”
She raises her hand as if she’s going to slap me upside the head but thinks better of it at the last second. “Shut the fuck up,Andries. You’re finished with this little act of defiance. You’re coming to dinner and you’re going to be part of this family, even if you have to fake it.”
“You’re sort of a bitch when we’re back home, you know that?”
“And you’re a coward. Come to dinner, or I will blow your cover about not being in business school.”
I feel the blood drain from my face. “You wouldn’t. There couldn’t be a worse time than now. I’m already a pariah.”
She huffs. “A pariah of your own making! Dinner is at seven p.m. Be there, showered and dressed, or I tell the truth to Mom and Dad. You hear me?”
I don’t want to give in, but Elise is not a person who does things by small degrees. If she says she is going to out me, I believe her. “Fine. But if it’s a shit show, you get to know that it’s your doing.”
She grins triumphantly, looking more like our father than ever. “Great. See you there, little brother.”
Dinner starts tense, and by the time the salad comes out, everyone is on the edge of snapping.
The kids are unaware, Hanna chattering on and on about school, her tutors, and her piano recital coming up. She’s sitting next to Elise, chair scooted almost hip to hip with her older sister, looking up at her periodically in awe. It’s clear she misses having her around, and she takes full advantage of Elise’s time at home.
Arthur is less impressed by me, blinking owlishly at me whenever I try to talk to him.
The kids are the only bright spot of this whole ordeal. Elise cuts her food while looking at me threateningly, as if she wants to use the knife elsewhere. My mother, bless her, tries to steer the conversation toward things everyone can relate to. Dad is stoically silent, to no one's surprise.
I take a long drink of my water, trying to scheme a way to excuse myself early. Mom had run out of generic topics, and, to my horror, I hear her change the subject to ask Dad about work.
“Are you excited for Elise to join you soon, Sebastian?” she asks cheerily.
Dad nods. “Yes. I’ll need all the help I can get since I had to lay my best employee off.”
