“And that gave you the right to take it as your own? I have since built up credibility in that field, in case you haven’t noticed. Meanwhile, everything you released after my design was a second-rate knockoff of a competitor’s design. Have you ever wished you’d kept me around to continue working for LVG?”
“No. I don’t like you. I never have.” He jabbed his cigarette stub into the pile of them in the ashtray.
“And why is that?” Joaquin asked, so filled with cold hatred, he no longer cared, but he made himself ask, “What did I ever do to you that I deserved to be put in hospital at eleven?”
“You’re too much like your mother. Fernando looked like me, at least. You…” Lorenzo curled his lip. “And you never knew your place.”
“You disgust me.” He really did. Joaquin’s stomach was turning. “I should have you up on charges for attempted murder. I was a child.”
“A clumsy one.” His father lit another cigarette.
“So you claimed. We both know what happened.”
“I know that you wouldn’t shut up about visiting your mother.”
“Why didn’t you let me live with her if you hated us both so much?” Joaquin was lancing a boil that had sat in him for too long, simply because he couldn’t stand to be in the same room. Tonight, however, he would get the answers he needed, no matter how unpleasant or painful.
“Because that’s what she wanted,” his father said with a cruel curl of his lip. “And so did you.”
“You put me in the hospital so I couldn’t go to her. And refused to let her visit.”
“It shut you up, didn’t it?”
“Do you revel in making people suffer? Is that it?”
“I like to win. It’s not my fault you’ve always been too weak to fight back.”
“I was a child,” he scoffed. “And I’ve never seen decency as a weakness. Another way I was like my mother, I suppose.” He twisted his lips with contempt. “But you’re right. I’ve always deluded myself into believing I could reason with you, but that’s not possible, is it? I thought cutting you from my life would be enough, but you can’t stand that I have succeeded in spite of you. In spite of yourtheft.”
“That really sticks in your craw, doesn’t it? Fine. I’ll trade the proceeds on what remains of the patent in exchange for your shares in LVG.”
“There are only a few years left on the patent. No. Go back to when I handed you the drawing and I’ll consider it, since that’s when the real money was made.”
“It doesn’t matter that you designed it.Ifunded the development of it.”
“LVG funded the development. Which is why I’m keeping the company, by the way.”
“I’ll burn it to the ground before I let you keep it.”
“Arson?” Joaquin rose and picked up his phone. “This is a useless conversation. As usual.”
“See?” His father lowered the footrest and hitched forward on his chair. “This is why I treated you the way I did. It’s so easy to best you. You never fight back. You don’tdeserveto be my son and have what I have. You give in too easily.”
“I don’t want to be your son. And I haven’t given in.” Joaquin glanced up from tapping the screen on his phone. He waited until the whooshing sound confirmed the file had sent. “I’m playing your game. Doing whatever it takes. You lie and cheat and threaten and steal. So that’s what I’ve done.” He tilted his phone. “Our conversation is with my lawyer. You’ll be hearing from him on the stolen patent and the attempted murder that you just confessed to. And the arson you’ve threatened.”
Lorenzo made a scoffing noise and threw his head back, but his gaze followed the phone as Joaquin pushed it back into his pocket.
“How does it feel? Never mind. I don’t care,” Joaquin derided. “Your debts are being called. By me. You might hang on to this house, but you’ll lose everything in it. I’ve also decided to claim the artwork that was Mother’s. Her will stated one third to her spouse, two-thirds to her children. You didn’t know I knew that, did you?” He hadn’t wanted the hassle of going after it, but all bets were off now.
“I’ve put a lien on the yacht until the audit at LVG completes. There are a lot of unanswered questions around misappropriation of funds.” He started to leave then turned back. “The woman you keep in the pied-a-terre in Paris? She’sbeen informed that the money tree has been cut down. She’ll be gone by morning with whatever you might have squirreled in the safe there.”
Lorenzo was turning purple, eyes sparking with outrage, but all Joaquin could think was how pathetic he looked.
“I’m not throwing you into the street the way you did me. Not because I’m too weak to do it, but because I don’t need to. You’ll be there soon enough.” He started for the door.
The ashtray struck the wall beside the door, puffing ashes across Joaquin’s sleeve.
“You’re losing your aim, old man. I’m having restraining orders prepared. Zurina, the children, Siobhan.Me. We’re all off-limits. Never speak to any of us again.”
