The next morning, Dallas stood in the reception area of Damien Stark’s penthouse office. He’d arrived early, and he was using the extra time to catch up with Liam as to the progress with Colin.
“It’s slow going,” Liam said. “Drugs aren’t working on him. But Quince is good at what he does, and he’ll get what we need. It’s just not going to be fast, or easy.”
“Fine. Well, no, it’s not fine,” he corrected himself, “but it is what it is.” He shifted so that his back was even more to the petite receptionist, then lowered his voice. “How the fuck did I miss the signs? How did I look straight at that man for so many years and not see who or what he was?”
“You saw what he showed you,” Liam said. “You saw what he wanted. Hell, I did, too.”
“He’s had training,” Dallas said. “It takes a certain skill set to withstand Quince’s interrogation. And still I never picked up on it.”
“There were a lot of years when he was off your radar,” Liam pointed out.
“And a lot when he wasn’t.”
“Don’t beat yourself up about it. The man’s good. Hell, he’s a fucking chameleon. We saw what he showed us. Not the monster underneath. That’s the thing about monsters, Dallas. They don’t just hide under children’s beds and in dark closets. They hide right in front of us. That’s what makes them so damn scary.”
Dallas ended the call when the receptionist called his name to get his attention. He turned and found her standing. “They’re ready for you.”
He nodded, then took a deep breath as he started down the hall behind her. Time to go see a different kind of monster.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Eli Sykes demanded, staring at his son who was striding into the conference room.
Dallas stood a little taller, the motion designed to hide his disappointment. He hadn’t actually expected a warm welcome from his father, but some small part of him had been holding on to hope.
He should have known better.
“I have a meeting today with Damien. He mentioned that you were coming to the office this morning to go over the San Diego and Culver City retail sites. I asked if I could have a few minutes.” He glanced at Damien, who was rising from his chair across from Eli. “I appreciate you letting me intercede on your time.”
“Well I don’t,” Eli said. “Damien, your schedule may be flexible, but I assure you mine isn’t. I have no time to spare for foolishness, sentimentality or, god forbid, begging.”
“I understand completely,” Damien said as he walked to the door. “As it happens, I’ve had an emergency come up that’s going to keep me away for the next twenty minutes. You’re welcome to spend that time however you see fit. As is Dallas.” He nodded between the two of them. “I’ll see you both later.”
When the door closed behind him, Dallas took the seat that Damien had just vacated. “I have a proposition I want to put on the table.”
“This is absurd,” Eli said, pushing back and starting to rise.
“Listen to me.” Dallas’s words sliced like a hot knife through the tension between them, and for a moment, Eli froze and father and son simply stared at each other.
Then the spell seemed to break, and Eli shook himself and rose to his full height, his brow furrowed and his eyes blazing. “Listen to you?” he repeated. “Listen? To what? To you telling the world that you’re sleeping with your sister? That you’ve made a mockery of our family? Is that what I’m supposed to listen to, Dallas?”
A thousand retorts filled Dallas’s head, but none seemed sufficient to counter his father’s vitriol, and he stood there, numb against the pain of his father’s verbal lashing.
“You just couldn’t keep it in your goddamn pants. Maybe I can understand when you were children—the trauma, the fear—but to continue this, this farce. To intentionally embarrass this family by behaving that way with your sister. Your sister. Well, I cannot—”
“Then don’t.”
The words came out so hard, so hot, that Eli actually shut his mouth and took a step backward.
“You can’t stand the fact that Jane and I are siblings? Then fix it. End it.”
Eli’s jaw tightened and his face turned a deep purple. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“Rescind my adoption.”
“What?”
“Make it go away,” Dallas pressed.
“You’re talking nonsense.” Eli shook his head slowly, as if Dallas wasn’t making a bit of sense. But he was. Just like he’d told Jane, he was certain this was the way. Hell, it was the only way.
“It’s not nonsense,” he continued, trying to keep his voice calm. Rational. His dad was a businessman after all, so Dallas needed to approach this as if it were a deal. An offer on the table for a move that might be risky, but in the end could make all their stock go up. “We’d need to file a petition in the same court that entered the adoption order, and we’d both need to consent along with Mom, but if—”
“And pile on even more embarrassment? Make us even more of a laughingstock? Drag this family even deeper through the mud than you already have?”
With each word, Dallas felt his temper flare even as he seemed to sink farther and farther into himself.
“Absolutely not,” Eli said finally. “Out of the question.”
“Dammit, Dad, this isn’t about public relations. It’s about your children. About our lives. Let us be free to love each other.”
“I’ve already answered that question.”
“You’re punishing me—punishing us—because we fell in love.”
Eli cocked his head and looked straight at Dallas, nailing him with the no-nonsense glare he used so often in the boardroom. “No, son. I’m punishing you because you acted on it.”
