"Hey, kid, you doing okay?" he asked sounding genuinely concerned. "I tried to call you last night, but you didn't pick up."
"Yeah, sorry about that, I must have left my phone on silent," I said feeling the shame rising in my chest again. "I'm okay."
"You high-tailed it out of there pretty quickly," he observed. "You sure everything's okay?"
"Honestly, no, it's not okay," I admitted. "Mike, I need to go home and get my family's situation straightened out, and I need to leave today. Can you give me some time to do that?"
"I truly wish I could, kiddo, but we've got a new client coming in for a meet and greet, and I need you there to handle the financial intake," he said.
"A few days, Mike! I just need a few days to get this all straightened out and I'll be back at work, I promise," I said with more than a hint of desperation in my voice.
"All right, be back by Thursday," he said. "But Thursday is the line, kiddo. If you're not back by then, I'm going to have to let you go."
"I'll be back, Mike," I assured him. "I promise."
Chapter Forty-Two
Adam
I paced the floor of the hotel suite as I tried calling Bugsy into the early hours, but he wasn't answering. I called my own phone to see if Honor could get Verity on the line, but no one picked up. The later it got, the more desperate I felt, and I knew I had to do something.
Around five, there was a light tapping on my door and when I opened it. I found my mother still dressed in her party gown looking like she'd had a long night.
"Adam, I'm leaving your father," she said. I could see the sadness in her eyes.
"I'm sorry, Mother," I said.
"Are you going to invite me in or are we going to have this conversation in the hallway?" she asked bluntly. I stepped aside as she swept into the room and went straight to the mini-bar to pour herself a drink. I waited until she'd settled onto the couch before I poured my own drink and joined her.
"Are you okay?" I asked tentatively.
"I'm sad, but I'll be fine," she replied. "Your father has never been an easy man to live with, but I've always loved him. I know that's probably hard for you to believe given all that you think you know about us, but it's true. Under all his brash egotism, he's essentially a good man, Adam."
"I find that hard to believe, but if you say so," I shrugged. My mother looked at me for a long time before she spoke again.
"Adam, your father loves you. I know he's been tough on you," she began.
"Tough? I don't know that I'd call him tough, more like abusive," I interrupted.
"Maybe that as well," she sighed. "He really does love you, but he just can't understand how you'd choose to follow a path that leads you so far away from what he's built."
"Maybe he just doesn't understand the need to create something greater than himself," I muttered.
"Oh, he understands all right," she said with a sad smile. "He just didn't choose to follow his dreams at the expense of his family."
"What are you talking about?"
"Your father went into the oil business because it supported us at a time when we had no money and were barely getting by," she said.
"It's incredibly hard to imagine the two of you broke," I said rolling my eyes at the image.
"You have no idea what we went through," my mother hissed fiercely. "You grew up wrapped in privilege and being afforded advantages that neither your father nor I could have ever imagined as children. Sometimes you are an ungrateful, little bastard, Adam."
"Nice, Mother, really nice," I said.
"But then if you are, I suppose it's our fault," she sighed. "Adam, listen to me, I'm all for you doing something worthwhile with your life, and I'm willing to back your project with the money I've put aside in my rainy day fund."
"What on earth?" I said surprised that my mother had any idea of what I was doing.