Family Man

Grayson went pale and Anna's eyes got so wide I was afraid it would pop right out of her head. I could do nothing but stare at my mother incredulously. My father? Stole from someone? That was the most ridiculous thing I'd ever heard. We came from old money. We were f*cling rich, damnit! There was no reason in the world for my father to stoop so low as to do something like that. His pride would never let him.

"You might want to elaborate on that mother." I stated in a low tone. I didn't want to accuse of her making up things, but it was a close call.

"Elaborate on what? Vladimir is a bad man. Your father worked for him, then he was stupid enough to steal from him and now Vladimir has come for his pound of flesh!" She thundered with wild eyes.

Anna gasped. I slanted her a look and she covered her mouth. This was not the time for her theatrics.

"The last time I checked mother, Father owned his own company. A company that has been in the family for five generations. We might not be the richest in the world but we are very, very far from being poor, mother. How about you try that again?"

"Are you calling me a liar, Jo?" She uttered in scandalized tones.

"No!" I blurted. "I would never say that mama. It's just, this doesn't make sense to me..."

"Now I'm saying nonsense eh? Believe it or not, your father is a thief. And now he has brought trouble to us." She folded her arms and glared at the room at large.

"Mama...." she gave me the Look. The one that said no more information would be forthcoming from her. Time for a new tactic. "Fine then. Don't say anything. It's not like I have any rights to make you say anything." I murmured as I fished out my phone from my pocket. "But I'm certain the authorities won't have the same problem."

"Are you threatening me?"

"Of course not. I'm simply saying that if you refuse to tell us the truth, then that means you don't want us to find father, so I will go to the authorities so that they can help me find father."

"How dare you?! Do you know how long my husband and I have been married? He's my whole life! D..." She switched to Spanish and continued yelling.

Thing was, I didn't understand a lick of Spanish, so I simply waited her out. Even though we were Mexican, we've never been home. Mum and dad were shunned by his family because they never approved of him marrying her and they'd relocated down to California and never went back. Dad had only gotten his company because of his grandfather's will.

Anyways, father's family stayed away from us and mother did everything in her power to ascertain that we had nothing in common with them. Mother's words stopped as she dissolved into loud, ugly tears and Anna ran over to her. She murmured soothingly to her as she periodically glared at me.

Great. Now they were no mad at me. Father has been kidnapped and they were bawling their eyes out because of a perceived insult.

And Char wondered why I was desperate to leave my house. I glanced at Grayson to get his opinion and found him lost in thought, his brows furrowed.

He took out his phone and started typing on it furiously. He looked up suddenly and flushed before jamming his phone in his pockets. He nodded at me before walking away from me and heading into the kitchen.

Huh, what was that about?

I followed him to get some answers. He was less likely to dissolve into tears if I asked too many questions.

"Hey Grayson?"

"Joe!" He called a little too loudly.

"What's wrong?"

"Why do you think anything's wrong?"

"Because you're a terrible liar. And you're cooking bread." Impossibly, Grayson flushed again, which in itself was weird.

I'd known Grayson all my life and I've never seen him blush, but I certainly couldn't deny how adorable he looked with the blood red marring his pretty features.

He made haste with coffee and put some cookies on the tray before taking it all out with him. I followed closely, resolute in my decision to force the words out of Grayson in whatever form.

Anna and mum hid things just for the sake of attention, but Grayson was nothing like them, so whatever he was hiding was important shit.

"Mrs Braille? I've got some herbal tea for you. It will help calm your nerves." I hid my frown as I watched mum accept a cup of her favorite tea with trembling fingers. Grayson, who was not her biological child had had the sense to get her something that would calm her down and it hadn't occurred to me. Does that mean I was a bad child?

I watched mother smile at him gratefully and my frown deepened. She was really upset, not playacting just to get some attention, which meant mum was scared. But what was she scared of?

Vladimir Sedof. My mind supplied helpfully.

Which brought me back to the same question. Why had this man kidnapped my father and left my mother shaking in her booths?

I stayed as far away as I could as I watched my mum's tears turn into a trickle and then a sniffle. She nodded to whatever Grayson was talking about and held on to Anna securely. I'd have gone to her but mother was volatile at the best of times and I couldn't afford for her to get upset and then completely refuse to divulge the information I need regarding this Sedof dude.

It took some inane chatter but thankfully, Grayson turned the conversation back to father's kidnapper.

"You know I look to you as a mother right? And you know I'd never want to see you hurting in anyway?" He waited for her to smile tearfully and nod before continuing. "And you know I'd do everything in my power to bring uncle Arthur back home safe and sound. But to do that, I need to know what transpired between uncle and master Sedof." Master? Was I the only one who found that sentence odd?

I couldn't ask for clarification because mum chose that time to speak.

"Arthur was only doing the best he could for his family, you have to understand that." They both nodded while I only felt trepidation at her words.

That sounded like justification, and you justified actions you knew were wrong but didn't want to admit.

"It started two years when that imbècil Jack made false accusations against my Arthur." I didn't know what imbècil meant but I concurred with whatever it was supposed to be.

Jack Stenson was a complete and utter tool. He'd been dad's closest friend and business partner. That man more or less lived in our house! But then he'd sold company secrets and when Dad had found out, he'd been outbroken but merely chose to sever toes with him and fire him from the company instead of suing him for everything he was worth before leaving him to rot in jail.

And what had that bastard done? He'd sued my father, that's what. Dad won the case, naturally, but by then the damage had been done. We lost money during the court case and more than half of the company's investors had pulled out. We'd been having money problems ever since.

"You remember how we had to downsize the company and let go of all the household staffs?"

I did remember. Our modest Manor was run by a butler and fifteen staffs but now we were down to the cook and gardener.

I'd advised that we sell the house and use the money to revive our failing business but mum had lost her shit and reminded me how we had an image to uphold. Yeah, you could be on the verge of starvation but as long as the society thinks you're still rich, then all's well, right? Right. "Then the letter came."

"What letter?" I blurted. Two sets of wide eyes glared at me for the interruption. "Sorry. Carry on." I waved in apology from my spot by the kitchen door.

"Before the rude interruption," mum glared at me balefully, "I was going to tell you about a letter from the old country. Your grandfather's will had some clause in it and your father was violating it by not making profit and as such, your uncle would be coming to take over from him two months from the date we received the letter."

"When was this?" Anna croaked.

"Well over a year ago, before Thanksgiving." No glare at her for the question. "Your father panicked. In less than two months, he'd loose the company he'd worked for his entire life. You see, a few years earlier, your father had met this Vladimir Sedof and he made a business proposal but your father declined because Vladimir came off as intense. His words, not mine. And also because of the mafia thing." Mafia? "But he was desperate because if we lost the company, we've lost everything and we'll be out on the streets and you girls will have to suffer or sell yourselves to get by.."

"Ma!" I yelled, beyond mortified. Really? We had no skill set to survive on our own unless we went onto prostitution? I was twenty eight and I had not one, but two degrees!

"You know is true. How would you have survived without all the luxuries your father works to provide for you?" The better question was, how would she have survived?

"What did Arthur do?" Grayson asked loudly, bringing us back on track to the issue at hand.

"What any family man would do. He called Vladimir and agreed to his business proposal, but I don't know the details of their business. I only know your father became more irritable and sad."

"If you didn't know what the business was about, why do you think dad stole from Vladimir?"

"He came home two weeks ago, shivering and out of his mind. He was muttering to himself and sounding completely delusional, saying weird stuff. He went on and on about vampires and demons and all sorts of strange things. 'he will kill me for this' he kept saying over and over. So I ask him 'who are you talking about and he says 'vladimir.' so I ask him why and he tells me he discovered something really bad, but he won't tell me what he found out but that he has taken his due share from their business and he will never have anything to do with him again. Then he shows me this large box filled to the brim with money."

Understood, kinda. But, "why exactly can't we go to the police?" It was Grayson who answered me.

"Vladimir Sedof is a self made billionaire, one of the youngest people in history to ever do so. He's into everything, entertainment, agriculture, crude oil, you name it and he's doing it. However, many people happen to believe that most, if not all of his wealth came from the mafia. No one has been able to prove it because each time a detective is charged with bringing evidence against him, the detective always meets with an.....accident. He's also said to have ties with the Russian president and no case, not a single one against him sees the light of day." It was impossible to meet the angst and hatred in his voice.

Wait, "Do you know Vladimir Sedof?"

He snorted derisively. "Who doesn't?"

I lost feeling in my limbs and slunk to the floor. So in conclusion, my father made a business deal with a mob boss, became privy to horrible shit and decided the next best thing to do was steal from him and now said mob boss has kidnapped him in revenge. We can't go to the police because cases against him don't see the light of day, and we could get hurt in the process. Did this mean my dad was gone for good?

"What do we do now?" Anna piped up. Grayson turned away from mum and crouched in front of Anna, grasping her hands.

"Unfortunately, your mum is right. We can't make this an official case. Nothing will come of it and we'll only succeed in pissing off Vladimir which have very bad results for Arthur."

"You're not suggesting we do nothing, are you?"

"No, of course not. I'm simply suggesting you let me handle this. I have a few contacts and I can secure a meeting with Vladimir and come to a compromise."

Mother exhaled in relief. "Thank you so much dear son. You will keep us in the loop, hmm?" She asked, her face full of gratitude.

People like my mum were the reason why women were still being looked down upon. She was always in need of a man to save the day.

Explained a lot why she never valued my input, actually.

I took out my phone and googled the man in question. A lot of things came up, but my interest was solely on his company's headquarters. "You can see him right now. His office is San Jose, only an hour away."

"What? Now? It's not even morning yet." He spluttered.

I showed him my phone's screen. "It's a few minutes before six. By the time you get to his office, it will be seven."

"Um, okay. I'll leave now."

"Okay, I'm coming with you, but I need to change first." Anna asserted, coming to stand next to him. Bitch.

I hurried to my own room and hastily donned the first Jean trouser I came across and a shirt and trainers. Picking up my favorite leather jacket, I exited my room and found Anna just coming out of her room as well.

"Good. Let's go. With any luck, we won't encounter any traffic on the way." I declared, walking determinedly to the front door.