Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 73940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 370(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 370(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
I crossed the maroon carpet and pulled out the chair across from my dad. “Hold on, let me call you back, Frank. My son’s here.”
“You could have finished your call, Dad.” And given me more time to figure out how the hell I was going to do this.
“That’s fine. Frank’s a fucking dumbass anyway. I was close to firing him.” He leaned back, smiling. “You saved him.”
“Great,” I said. My dad could be ruthless; I already knew this about him. But his cutthroat business sense never leaked over into his family life. He always treated Mom and me as if we were the best damn things to ever have happened to him.
“It’s about the drilling project, anyway. So this is perfect timing.”
Yeah. Perfect.
My dad leaned forward. He could definitely be an intimidating man. Broad shoulders, icy-blue eyes, lips that rarely curved into a smile. I’d seen him chew people up and spit them out only to do it all again. There was a reason why he was such a successful businessman.
My mouth started to go dry. I tried to stop my leg from bouncing, but the nerves were beginning to escalate.
“About that, Dad… I wanted to talk to you.”
“Oh? Are you ready to hop on board? I really want you in on this from the ground up. I want you to see everything that goes into one of these projects.”
My leg wouldn’t stop bouncing. Every muscle in my body felt coiled up and ready to burst. Fight, flight, or freeze. My adrenaline spiked, my mouth still dry as fuck. How was I going to do this without causing my dad to blow up? “I’ve been thinking a lot about that, actually, and it’s the reason why I’m here.”
“Great,” he said, clapping his hands down on his desk and making me hop in my seat. “I’ll tell Gina to start the onboarding process. She’ll CC you on all the emails, and I can bring you in on the phone calls.”
“Dad, no, hold up.”
His eyes opened wide before they narrowed again.
Jay’s smiling face flashed across my vision. He had risked it all for the cause. He got himself basically kicked out of school because of his passion. How could I go back to the dorm and face my new boyfriend without even trying to stop my dad?
I had to do it. Rip it off like a Band-Aid.
“I don’t want to work with you on this.”
His face cracked with surprise. I rarely ever saw him drop his poker face.
“Really? Why? Is it school? Rowing? I understand if it’s too much. We can wait until you graduate for you to start—”
“No, I don’t want to start anything, Dad. I don’t want to work on the drilling project, and I don’t think you should either.”
He cocked his head before he started to laugh. It sounded as dry as my mouth felt. “You’re joking, right? This isn’t a funny joke. I know I’m laughing, but it’s not because of the joke.”
“It’s not a joke.” I swallowed down the clump of sand stuck to the back of my throat. I could feel each individual heartbeat pound against my rib cage. I’d never confronted my dad about this. Of course, I’d seen plenty of people try. Mostly protestors who camped out at whatever ribbon-cutting ceremony or presentation my father was set to give. I felt guilt for never giving them much thought, not until Jay came into my life and opened my eyes to the damage my family was causing.
“Ryan.” My dad said my name the same way he’d say it when I’d get in trouble as a kid. “I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but I’m basically handing you the keys to my entire empire. I want you to have all of it when I go. I’ve worked too damn hard for this. I want you to take it.”
“I don’t want it.” The words landed in the room like an atomic bomb. Never had I vocalized my inner wants to my dad. He blindly assumed that I was going to follow in his footsteps. I never wanted to disappoint him, but after my day with Jay yesterday, I realized that time was running out. I had to speak my truth, and my dad had to listen to it.
Before he could argue, I continued, using the momentum I was building. “Working in the family business has never been my passion. I thought it was something I had to do, something I was expected to do, but I never actually liked it. You know I’ve always loved video games, but it goes past playing them. I want to make them. I want to create stories that capture people’s attention, and I want to make a difference, too. I think I can do both if I go into game development.