35
Summer
As I walk up the front steps to my father’s house, I’m nervous for a whole other reason than I was when I first came here the other week.
Tonight, I’m nervous because Robert is in L.A. Eric located him two nights ago and is currently trying to track him down.
I wanted to see my father, so I ventured out with ten guards accompanying me, including Borya and Oleg. The fact that they came with me shows the level of protection Eric thought I’d need going outside.
As far as we know though, it doesn’t look like Robert knows I’m alive and I hope he never will.
Dad opens the door before I can even ring the bell and he looks as haggard as he did the last time we saw each other.
He’s looking at me differently though. The same way I’m looking at him.
I’m no longer that lost soul who needed her father to believe her. I’m here for me, not him. I don’t want to have this vendetta between us when all that’s left of our family is each other. I’m sure too he has as much to say to me as I have to him.
Ted’s scandal is hot news across the country and only today evidence was revealed showing his hand in the early release of many criminals from prison. He’d taken everything from bribes to doing shady shit to exclude evidence.
“Hi Dad,” I say.
“Thanks for coming,” he replies and ushers me inside.
I look back at the guards before I go in. Borya and Oleg are outside of the Range Rover they drove me in, and the other guards are in two black Bugatti’s.
Dad takes me back to the room we were in last, and I sit. I notice he has another painting out tonight. It looks new.
It’s on the furthest wall and it’s of two little dark-haired girls playing by the river. They’re both wearing dresses I recognize so I’m assuming the two girls are Scarlett and me.
“I did that a few days ago,” he explains. “At least I can still sit and paint.”
I stare at him and remember how I loved watching him paint.
“It’s beautiful.”
“I want you to have it when I’m gone. I want you to have everything. All my paintings and this house for whatever it’s worth. I know it’s small in comparison to the money we just received but it’s from me.”
I’m still trying to wrap my head around the money in my account. Ted paid back the five million Grandmama left us. That all went to me. Mom’s inheritance which was another two million was split between Dad and me.
So, there’s currently six million sitting in my bank account. If anyone had told me that I’d be here with that much money I would never have believed it. Me the girl who couldn’t eat, me the girl who had to live on the streets for months, me the girl who had to sell her body to save her life.
It’s an unimaginable amount of money, but what my father is talking about is priceless.
“Thank you.”
“Summer, I owe you an apology. I owe you years of apologies. I’m a poor excuse for a father and I don’t expect you to forgive me when I can’t forgive myself. I was in shock when I found your mother dead on the bed. There was so much blood and all I saw was that note I’ll never forget. I just kept thinking, she wouldn’t have killed herself if it wasn’t true.”
“Now you know it wasn’t true. But it doesn’t matter anymore. I’m not going to tell you it’s okay you believe me now that the truth is out because it’s not. And, I’m not going to tell you how much I went through because it doesn’t matter anymore.”
“It does matter. When Scarlett told me how you lost the baby, I tried to reach out to you.”
He did, but not the way he’s making it sound. He took Scarlett and made sure she got the support she needed after Mom’s death. I was just left in the wind.
“I know there’s no point talking about it now, and there’s nothing I can do to make up for my errors of the past.”
“There isn’t. But I’m here because I want to make peace with you. You only have months left to live and I don’t want you to die with this angst between us. I just want things to go back to how they were. How they were before you and Mom split up. I used to love you so much.”
“And I destroyed that love. I want to go back to that time too and be the version of the father I wanted to be to you. It shouldn’t have taken this long for me to get to this point, and I shouldn’t have blamed you for anyone’s death. I’m sorry, Summer. I am really sorry.”