Beck, being the lover and not fighter of the group, stands without argument and moves out of her way.

She sits, dusting off her black pants with her hands before folding them in her lap.  I look up and meet her hard gaze, staring her straight on, refusing to let her see any weakness in me.

“Story time, bastard son of mine.”  She pauses—I’m sure for dramatic flare.   “Once upon a time, there was a son born out of an accidental affair with the pool boy.  Such a terrible decision on the mother’s end, being that she was married with a perfect little angel already.  Oh, and that her husband couldn’t have more children.  Imagine the scandal that rocked the house when she became pregnant.  Of course, the husband was deeply confused, determined to stand by her side while the mother worked her magic and had her husband believing in miracles.”

She laughs before her face falls and becomes serious again. “But that little bastard was nothing but trouble from day one.  The mother was sick for the whole pregnancy, convinced that she was going to die from the demon inside her body.  Her little prince suffered because she was feeling too unwell to care for him.  Her husband—that miracle-believing fool—finally found out the truth when the baby was born.  He looked nothing like his wife or other son, but instead favoring the dark complexion of a member of their staff.  It was quite the time.  Sure, that little bastard looked a little like his mother, but the differences were too vast for her lie to be believed.  Like a thief in the night, her husband was gone.”

She pauses while I struggle to keep up with what is obviously my life story.  Sure, I’ve always been a little tanner than the rest of the family, but I share my mother’s dark eyes and black hair.  I always assumed that my brother just took after our father.

Holy shit.

“Ah, I see it’s sinking in now.  Yes, Maddox, you are that little bastard.  The rotten little baby that was,” she laughs.  “Now here is where things get real fun.  Your father, leaving when he did and proving that I had in fact been unfaithful, took oh so much from me.  He took money that was rightfully mine.  He didn’t get my company, but even that was struggling.  I’ve been fighting hard to build it back up for years.  I knew that, one day, because of the way my foolish father had worded his last will and testaments, my sons would retain partial control of Locke Oil.  I couldn’t take the chance that your rotten hands would touch what is ours.  You played right into my hands when you met little Mercedes.  She’s been of great importance the last few years.”  She pause, and I feel the urge to throw up.

Mercedes?  What does she have to do with this fucked-up tale?

I look up and lock eyes with the four other men listening to this shit—each of them wearing the same expression of shock and outrage.

“I’m sure that, at some point in your ridiculously long relationship, she might have cared a little.  It didn’t take us much to persuade her to come work for our side of things.  The money and power you can’t provide her with can persuade even the strongest of souls.   And of course it didn’t hurt that your brother is quite fond of her.  We offered her the world, something you would have never been able to give her.  It was all planned out.  All we had to do was wait for her to get that pathetic ring on her finger, have all those prenuptial papers drafted with the additional paperwork that relinquished your right to anything Locke Oil related, and wait for you to leave for another little game in the sandbox.”

“The fuck you say!” Coop shouts, startling her enough to flinch.

“Hush, boy,” she scolds.

“I got your fucking boy,” he crudely yells back, grabbing his crotch.

“Let her finish,” I interrupt before Coop can start bellowing again.

“Oh yes.  We are getting to the best part.  And the reason that I just sat on that dreadful plane.  It really is a pity that you made it out alive.  I’m not sure how you’re going to be able to face the fact that, once again, your vile soul has tainted more lives.  Those poor men…dying because of you.”

Coop isn’t the only one who lashes out at that.  I hear them all start to yell over each other.  I just sit there and stare her in the eyes, refusing to give her what she wants—my pain.

“As I was saying,” she continues.  “Since the day you were conceived, you have destroyed everything you touch.  Every relationship in direct contact with you suffers.   It wasn’t enough that my husband left me, cleaning me out and making it so we couldn’t have the best of the best.  Mason had to suffer the disgusting public school system for years before I rebuilt our empire.  You have been nothing but trouble from the beginning.  Always doing something ridiculously careless in school.  The early drinking and partying.  And then disgracing the family by joining the military.  Everything you have ever touched is shit, and Mercedes is lucky that she and my grandson got out when they did.  Enjoy what’s left of your life, Maddox.”  She goes to stand, and her words hit me like a Mack truck.