Ding dong!
“Ding dong, the witch is dead!” Zeus, the cockatoo, screeched.
“Shut up! I’m not dead,” Grace’s grandmother yelled back.
I stripped off my shirt. I needed a shower—a cold one. I figured Gran could handle the delivery man.
“Chris!” she shouted. “Chris!”
She came power walking down the hallway, gave me a wolf whistle when she saw me, then said, “There’s a hot young guy at the door. Claims he’s your father. But damn, he looks like your brother!”
I sighed and put my shirt back on.
“Boo!” Mrs. Fulton said. The parrot, waddling down the hall wearing a bird-sized version of an eighteenth-century waistcoat, hissed at me.
“Don’t hiss at me in my own house,” I told Zeus.
The parrot attacked my foot.
“Shit!” I cursed, jumping away from the sharp beak.
“Jesus Christ!” my father bellowed. “Chris, get over here. Now!”
He grabbed my arm, forced me into my study, and slammed the door. His fists were clenched, and he was breathing heavily.
“I cannot believe you!” he yelled. He waved wildly to the closed door. “Have you lost your mind? When the doorman called me and told me that you had moved not just that dumpy little gold digger in here but her entire fucking family too, I thought, no, my son isn’t that stupid. But then I remembered what happened with Addison. And I knew I had to come here and save you from yourself.”
I leaned against my desk and crossed my arms.
“What makes you think I need saving?”
“That girl—”
“Grace.”
My father sneered. “Graceis using you. She’s manipulating you.”
“She’s not. She’s too busy for that. She literally works all the time. Hell, I was out with her yesterday on all her jobs. Her work ethic is insane!”
My father bared his teeth. “She’s trying to reel you in, make you think you’re falling in love, then bam! She’s pregnant and taking half of your shit.”
“Grace isn’t like that. She’s—”
“Of course she is,” my father said, cutting me off. “All women are the same.” He punctuated his words with a fist on his open palm.
“You are walking evidence of how a woman can ruin a man’s life. You and your mother ruined my life. How much clearer do I need to spell that out for you?”
I looked away. I always felt guilty about how my mom had taken my dad to the cleaners on child support.
“But as soon as I realized I was having a son, I knew I wouldn’t let you make the same mistakes I did,” my father continued. “I never remarried so that you wouldn’t think that marriage and falling in love was a viable life path. I made sure you didn’t have to deal with a stepmother. I sacrificed to make you the man you are today. And I continue to look out for you to make sure you don’t end up like me, shackled to some bitch’s child for the rest of your life.”
He clapped a hand on my shoulder and shook me.
“We’re going to sort this out right now. I have a meeting set up with the lawyers. One of my fraternity buddy’s cousins is a judge. I’ve asked him to put in a good word about your case. With any luck, you will be a free man in a week, and that gold digger and her family will be out of your life.”
* * *
The Svenssons were waitingin their office with another lawyer I’d never seen before.
