Growing up, my father was never around, which was how I liked it. When it was just my mother and me. I loved it when there was just the two of us, and she would laugh and play games with me. I have memories, from when I was five or six, of us playing ridiculous games of hide and seek and chasing each other around this huge mansion, our screams and cries of laughter bringing some life to the otherwise vacuous place. It was during those times that my mother was whole, complete, happy.
When my father was home she would cave in on herself, become a shell of the woman she was, bowing to his every command, afraid to piss him off. She would do everything she could to keep me out of the way, organizing playdates with kids from school or getting the nanny to take me out for the day, so I honestly don’t know what went on when I wasn’t around; but in the dead of night I would hear them, well him, yelling at her. I would hear the slap of his hand against her skin, the bang of her body hitting the wall when he pushed her, her pleading cries for him to stop; but he never did.
Shaking off those childhood memories, I focus back on the documents in my hand. I have been building my own portfolio on my father for years now, and I am accruing quite the pile of blackmail material that I fully intend to use to take my father down. What I have is at least enough to stop him getting re-elected for Governor and, if I’m lucky, possibly even some prison time. The son of a bitch has gone unchecked for far too long. I've just been biding my time, waiting in the shadows, but with the gubernatorial elections coming up in a few months, now is the time to strike.
Everyone thinks I have a perfect life, a perfect home, perfect father, but they have no idea what goes on behind closed doors in this house.
So, after my run in with Robert, I got my private investigator to get me some information about him and his family. The initial report told me nothing of significance, all the typical information - age, date of birth, where he grew up, etc. I found the same in the file on Sophie Montgomery too, along with copies of birth certificates, marriage licenses, and a death certificate for Grace, her mom.
According to the information, Robert and Grace met in Northern Ireland, when he was over doing business. They had a whirlwind romance, quickly falling in love, and she moved to America soon after, where they got married and had Sophie.
Sophie has been going to a boarding school in Northern Ireland since she was ten, her mom probably wanting Sophie to learn about that side of her heritage.
I even have picture-perfect photos of them as a family, on vacation and at Christmas, when Sophie was home from school.
Interestingly though, my PI also found photos of Robert with a woman that definitely wasn’t his wife…It would appear he isn’t the doting, loving husband he is making himself out to be. If he’s a cheater, milking up the sympathy of his wife’s death, then what else is he capable of?
Knowing I was on to something, I asked my PI to do some more digging. That was when he found something unexpected. The piece of the puzzle that showed me the Montgomerys are not who they pretend to be.
When he went to the address Robert and Sophie used to live at, before moving here, my PI discovered they never lived there. No one in the neighbouring houses knew who the Montgomerys were. He found the same when he went to Sophie’s fancy, expensive boarding school – no one knew who she was or recognized her photo.
They had done a good job of hiding, of putting up a façade, but I was on to them now. I need to work out what they are doing here, what their game plan is. I don't know if they are in on some scheme with my father, or running their own scam, but I am not about to let them interfere with my own plans. Not when I am so close to destroying my father and getting out from under his thumb.
It’s possible Sophie has no idea what her father is up to, that she is just an innocent pawn in all of this, but I can’t afford to take that risk. Watching her take what we have thrown at her this week shows me she’s stronger than I initially expected, but that just means I’ll have to try harder to break her. So, it doesn't matter how enticingly sweet Sophie is. She and her father won't be staying. I'm going to make sure of that.
Before I can mull it over further, I hear my father bellowing my name, demanding my presence. Knowing it won’t do me any good to keep him waiting, I quickly stuff the folder back in my drawer and head down to see what that the asswipe wants.
“Yes, Father?” I ask once I’ve located him in his study - not that he ever leaves this room when he is home, so it wasn’t difficult to work out where I would find him.
Scowling at me, which is his usual face in my presence when no one else is around, he demands, “Where the hell were you today?”
“School. Then I had some things to take care of.”
“You were supposed to be at the family press conference with me this afternoon,” he snarls out in anger.
I knew I would be inciting his wrath when I skipped the press conference, but what I had to do at school was more important.
Quicker than I can blink he punches me in the stomach, causing me to cough out a breath and double over.
“That's for being a disrespectful piece of shit!” He shouts at me, his face so close I can feel his spittle hitting me with each of his words. “This is an election year and I won’t have you doing anything that could interfere with my campaign. Next time, do as I say, and turn up when and where you are told to,” he demands, grabbing me by the neck of my shirt and using the momentum to shove me against the wall before leaning into me again, “or your little buddy Barrett might find himself on the wrong side of a theft gone wrong,” he finishes, smirking cruelly at me before letting me go and shoving me towards the door.
Fuck. I knew I was going to piss him off by not turning up today. After all, how can he present himself as the loving father and family man that the citizens of California think he is, without his sob story of a grieving husband with a loving son at his side?
I knew defying him would result in his violent outburst. I’ve grown so immune to it now, it doesn’t even bother me. I didn’t expect him to threaten Barrett though.
It’s not a move he has ever made before. He knows Barrett is the only person alive that I care about, even than myself. By threatening him, he is ensuring I follow his orders. I don’t have a choice, not if I want to protect Barrett. My father is a man of his word, I have no doubt he will follow through if I defy him again.
◆◆◆
My phone rings later that night while I’m lying in bed, once again mulling over the Montgomery files. I need to move them out of this house, put them in my safe place. Although my father is never home, I don’t trust him not to get someone to snoop through my room, so I never keep anything of value here. Tomorrow I will move the file somewhere safer.
Looking at the screen, I see it’s Barrett calling. Setting the file down, I answer his call before it can go to voicemail. Barrett is as good as my brother. He’s the only person in this world I trust and confide in. The only one who knows what my life is truly like, and he’s stuck by me through it all. I owe him my life.
“Hey man, what’s up?” I ask as I answer the phone.
“Hey man, I was thinking about our little problem,” he muses, referring to Sophie, “and I think I have an idea.”
“I’m all ears man, clearly what we’re doing so far isn’t working”