The Dictator (Banker 2)

My mother called me, so I answered. “Hey, Mother.”

“Hey, honey. How are you?” She spoke with a deep and refined voice, like an old-fashioned movie star. Even at her lowest point, she was still classy. She would come home from the cannery and mask her pain with a smile so my brother and I wouldn’t pity her.

“Well. You?”

“I haven’t heard from you in a long time. Been busy?”

I hadn’t spoken to her since I’d met Siena. That was more than six weeks ago. Keeping in touch with my mother had fallen off my list of priorities once I had a serious woman in my life. “You know how it is. It’s one thing after another.”

“That’s too bad. I was hoping you were busy with a woman—or a man. Just someone.”

My mother never asked me about my personal life. She respected my privacy. But apparently something had changed her mind about that. “No. Just work.”

“Well, you shouldn’t work too much. Life will pass you by so quickly, and you’ll have nothing to show for it.”

“I don’t think a twelve-billion-dollar company is considered nothing.” I didn’t appreciate being challenged, not even by my mother. If she were somebody else, they’d receive a much harsher response.

“Of course not. But you can’t line your coffin with cash and take it with you.”

This argument was going nowhere. “Let’s get dinner this week. We’ll go to your favorite place.” If the purpose of this phone call was to make me feel guilty for not calling, it worked. “I’ll let Bates know.”

“Oh, that sounds nice,” she said cheerfully. “Let me know the place and time.”

“And, Mother? That asshole hasn’t bothered you, right?” My men reported no signs of him, but I wanted to make sure.

“No, honey. Not at all.”

I got off the phone with her, and Bates walked in fifteen minutes later.

“You’re at work early.” He fell into the leather armchair facing my desk.

“Since I’m always working, I’m neither early nor late.”

“I figured you would need to sleep longer after the night you had.” He grinned wide. “My night was pretty fantastic. Maybe tonight I’ll do a replay.”

I changed the subject before Bates could ask me the details. I couldn’t lie to him, and the truth would just piss him off. That would start a whole argument, and I was tired of talking about Siena. “Mother just called me. We’re having dinner with her this week.”

“I haven’t talked to her in a while, not that she cares. You’re her favorite. I’m sure she was pissed when she didn’t hear from you over the past six weeks.”

I raised an eyebrow. “How do you know I haven’t talked to her in six weeks?”

His smile slowly faded. “She mentioned it.”

“You just said you haven’t talked to her in a while.”

“Yeah, two weeks. That’s a while.” He rubbed his palm across his chin and touched his beard. “She mentioned you hadn’t called her. Bitched about it. We all know you’re her favorite, but it would be nice if she tried to hide it a little bit.” He rolled his eyes and brushed it off like he didn’t care, but we both knew he did.

I didn’t deny it because it was true. I’d always been Mother’s favorite, ever since we were young. As we aged, that became more apparent. Now that we were adults, she had a distinctly different relationship with each of us. I wasn’t sure if it was because I was the oldest or I was the quietest, but she bonded with me better. “She asked me if I was busy with a woman.”

Bates said nothing in response.

“Did you tell her about Siena?”

My brother wouldn’t lie, so he squirmed in silence until he spat out the truth. “I may have mentioned you’d been spending time with someone…”

“And why would you do that?”

“Because you’d been seeing her for a while. I just said it in passing. I didn’t tell her anything serious was going on.”

“You never mention my private life to her in passing. You know she’ll hold on to that.”

He shrugged. “She asked if you were busy, and I told her the truth, alright? Chill.”

I’d shut down the discussion with my mother, so I guess it didn’t matter anymore.

“Besides, you’ll have to tell her you’re having a baby. So it’s gonna come up either way.”

I hadn’t even thought of that. I’d never planned on telling her. When the tabloids found out about it, I guess that’s how I expected her to learn the news—even though that was cold. “Fuck…”

“You are going to tell her, right?”

I rubbed my temple with my fingers as I silently cursed Siena. This pregnancy ruined my life. If this baby weren’t on the way, I would have eliminated Siena from my life, and I wouldn’t have to tell my mother I was having a kid…and then explain to her that I knocked someone up. It wouldn’t be a fun conversation. She would want to meet Siena, and that would be a nightmare in itself.