I would.
We all would.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Ramses
The decision to go see my father wasn’t a hard one. It had been before.
It just wasn’t now.
It almost felt easier after the meeting I’d had with my executive board today. A long time coming and I held nothing but confidence upon being escorted through the white collar prison. Governors and countless politicians had frequented the harsh brick halls.
Absolutely fitting.
Several guards guided me through, one after the other, an attentive assembly line. I was asked if I needed anything constantly. Doted over as if royalty. Nothing but the best for the affluent son of a rich killer. Dad may not have known about the murder of December’s sister until after the fact, but his help with the cover-up basically put him in the same category as my uncle.
At least, in my eyes.
The man who raised me had contributed to no white collar crime, yet here he was in the nicest prison in the state. Money sure did get one the best.
His quarters were no exception.
Private and away from the fray, two armed guards outside let me through. The sole heir of a self-imposed god didn’t speak to his criminal-ass father from behind plate glass. He got the full view, all-star treatment. They took me right in to see my father.
“Mallick. You got a visitor.”
At an old oak desk, actually writing like he had business to attend to. My father in an orange jump suit, his beard cut and trimmed, office ready.
The sight twitched a scowl.
That he could be arrogant enough to live his days this way, like he had the right for any type of comfort or luxury. His head lifted from his desk, and he was surrounded by the same, countless books on his shelves, a chess set in the corner.
His bed even had a comforter.
I smirked at this point, the luxuries of what money and status could buy. Sad thing was, my father’s name alone could get him these things. He hadn’t built this prison, conflict of interest, but he’d made money off one or two in the state. He’d had his hands dipped in everything, businesses all around.
I’d make it my mission to take him down a peg, starting now, and getting up from his desk, he didn’t seem at all surprised to see me.
He even smiled.
He was arrogant enough to when he set his pen down and his guards arranged our meeting space. Dad was given a chair, myself the same. We could sit with each other, talk with the other, but he couldn’t come within ten feet of me. This was something I’d requested.
At the present, I held more power than this man, unbuttoning my jacket and taking a seat. I’d come here straight from the office.
“Son,” he said, blinking as if awed. He raised his head from his chair. “You’ve finally come.”
Though, not for him, and not for any type of closure or healing. I really didn’t need it from him.
I wet my lips. “I recently had a meeting with the board. I’m going in a new direction with Mallick.”
Straight to the point, I had the guards hand him what I’d brought, then watched with great satisfaction as he read everything over from his chair. I owed my father absol
utely nothing, but I did owe this to myself. I made decisions, took actions.
And I wanted him to know.
Like my arrival, no surprise twitched his eyes. Surprising, but I waited until he got to the end. This did jump his brows at this point, and with the amount of his company’s assets I’d sold off, it probably should. Mallick was still operational in the real estate and development game. I wasn’t fucking crazy. That was our money maker, our business, but I was diversifying and making an empire I could actually stomach running. Nothing based on greed or opportunity. A plan that put both people and myself in mind. This was the kind of company I could run, and he’d given me that power the moment he’d landed in here. I was the number one.