Page 76 of Once Upon a Beast

“Don’t say that. All of this was for you. For your future,” my father almost sobbed.

“If you want to make this right. If you really care about me, then you need to turn yourself in. You need to make this right for Atticus and for Nic.”

My father shook his head. “I can’t do that. If I do, everything that I’ve worked for, everything that we’ve done would be for nothing. I can’t do it. I won’t,” my father stated.

“It’s over. You’re done. You can’t get out of this. I’m going to turn over all the information I have to the authorities. You can either turn yourself in and make this easier or you can have them bring you in. Those are your only two choices,” Nic said.

“Nic, you aren’t going to do that. If you do, everything that you created, everything that you’ve done will be for naught. The business you have built, the life that you want to have will be gone. Your father is nothing. He hurt me, he hurt you. Let us forget about him and all of this and just move on. We can still be the family you always wanted. The three of us,” my father said.

“That isn’t going to happen. Atticus is getting out of jail. Nic doesn’t care if it ruins his reputation and his company. It’s the right thing to do,” I said.

“He wouldn’t do that to you. If he turns me in, your life would be ruined too,” My father said. He said it so matter-of-factly as if he just assumed that we would be okay with what he did.

“That is the risk that we’re willing to take. Whatever you thought you were doing against Atticus or for us, is over. He never did anything, it was all you,” I said and then stopped. “Wait. It wasn’t Atticus who was going to leak the story. Was there ever any story? Did you manipulate Nic and I to get together?” I asked.

“You two have loved each other for years. I’d seen how you both missed the other so much but you were too stubborn to get past your hurt. You needed a nudge and I gave it to you.” My father smiled as if it was the greatest thing he could have ever done. It only showed me how delusional the man was.

“By lying to us? By manipulating us?” I yelled at him. I had thought it was bad enough the things my father had done to Atticus and Nic. I had no idea that he would stoop to the level of involving me. “How could you?” I whispered.

Nic came over and put his arms around me. I leaned into him. It was all too much to take, to understand. My father didn’t exist. The man who stood before me was a monster and someone I didn’t recognize or want in my life.

“Everything I did, I did out of love,” my father sobbed.

“No, you did it to get what you wanted. You’re selfish and cruel and you don’t know what love is. No wonder my mother and Atticus never loved you. You’re not a man who deserves love. I’m done with you. I’m done with this conversation. You had a chance to turn yourself in but I can see you won’t. I suggest you get your affairs in order, James, because you’re going to go away for a long time,” I said.

My father flinched at me calling him by his given name. I had done it on purpose. I wanted him to know that he was no longer my father, that he had truly and completely lost.

“That isn’t going to happen. I knew that this day might come one day. I planned Atticus’s demise and I planned for every possible outcome after that. I won’t go down. I will never see the inside of a prison cell,” my father said.

“You can’t talk your way out of this. None of your political friends will touch you after they found out what you did,” Nic said.

My father walked away from us and waved his right hand in front of his face. “You’re right. They won’t. They will turn tail and run to save themselves. I’m sure they will be saying how they knew all along that I was corrupt and will use it to start a new platform on white collar crimes. That isn’t what I’m talking about.”

I looked over at Nic and he shrugged. I turned to see my father standing by his desk. He opened a drawer and pulled something out. At first, I didn’t comprehend what I was seeing or what he was going to do. When I did, I screamed and ran toward him.

Chapter 39

Nicodemus

It was the longest seconds of my life. Layla saw what her father was doing before I did. She was too far away for me to grab her as she ran towards James. My body reacted before my mind did and I ran towards her, but I was too late. I watched in horror as the gun in James' hand went off. I saw Layla flinch as if she had been hit and my heart stopped and my legs went weak.

None of us moved for a few seconds and in those seconds, I thought that Layla had been shot. I thought I was going to lose her. In that moment, I saw how empty and meaningless my life would be without her in it. It took longer than it should have to realize that the shot had gone wild and hit the wall. When I got my wits about me, I ran over and took the gun out of James’s hands. He had seen what he had almost done, the ashen look on his face showing his devastation.

“What the hell were you thinking?” I yelled at James. “You could have gotten Layla killed.” I turned to Layla as I put James’ hands behind his back and put the gun on the desk, far away from James. “Are you okay?” I asked her.

“Physically, yes. I wasn’t hit. Emotionally? Not even close. You?” Layla asked. She tried to give me a half-hearted smile.

“Same. Can you call 911?” I asked.

“Yeah. Sure.” Layla said with a sigh. On shaking legs, she walked away from James and me.

I looked down at James, he wasn’t fighting me. His head was down and I could tell that he was crying. I let his arms go and he fell to the floor. I felt a little sympathy for him but not much.

“There was a time when all I wanted was for you to respect me. I thought you were a man that I wanted to be like. I thought you were a good, decent man. I can see you never were. I thought it was bad enough what you did to those innocent people. It was horrible what you did to my father, but putting Layla in danger like that. I will never ever forgive you.”

James whimpered and nodded his head. “I’m sorry. I never would have hurt Layla. I love her. She is all that I have. I just wanted this to end. I don’t want to go to jail,” he sobbed.

“It’s a little too late for that. You wanted to ruin my father’s life but all you did was ruin your own. The cops will be here in a few minutes. You can tell them everything and I suggest you do. If you love Layla, if you want to do what is right for her, confess, End this as soon as possible. Don’t put her through a long trial. You lost, accept it, let her move on.”