Casanova(11)

After a second, I heard a, “Talk to you soon, Dad,” from one William Walker. “There,” he said a moment later. “Are you happy?”

“Tremendously.” Mae opened the door wide and motioned for me to step forward.

I did.

“William, darling, Lani. I’ll leave you to your meeting.” With that, she turned and swept past me.

I only just caught the heavy door before it hit me.

“Well, well, well. Little Lani Montana. How are you, sweetheart?” William stepped toward me and hugged me tight as his wife just did.

Using my foot to hold the door open, I returned the gesture and answered the same way I did to Mae.

“Oh, I’m as well as I can be.” He chuckled, finally grabbing the door with an apologetic smile. “Take a seat, Lani. Let’s talk.”

“Sure.” I walked into his large office. It was hard not to be intimidated by the size of the room. There was a huge corner desk, and the entire back wall was lined with mahogany bookcases. Each shelf was stacked solid with books. They spilled out onto the floor in the corner and the sofa beneath the window.

I nestled myself into one of the comfortable, black, leather chairs opposite his desk. “Camille told me about your plans for Brett.”

I didn’t choke on his name. Go me.

“Yes...” William slowly sat into his large chair, black too, and leaned back. He reached for a packet of cigarettes. Then he paused with his hand hovering over it. “Do you mind?”

I smiled. “It’s your house. Go ahead. It can’t be smokier in here than Los Angeles.”

He inclined his head and tapped one of the cigarettes out of the packet. “I’ll sit on the sofa by the window. Compromise.” He did just that, and when he’d lit his cigarette, he blew out a long plume of gray-blue smoke in the direction of the open window. “Yes. Brett. Hmm.”

That didn’t sound good.

“Camille said you didn’t want to see him.” It sounded more like an accusation than a blanket statement.

“Yes, sir. I’d rather not, if that’s possible.” I steeled myself for his response.

“Perhaps not entirely,” he said slowly, tapping ash into an ashtray. “But certainly we can attempt it. It might not be easy...”

He trailed off for a moment before speaking again.

“I’ve actually followed some of your work.”

“You have?” I blinked, swallowing. “Oh.”

He half-smiled. “Of course. Lani Montana disappeared without a word, then, four years later, is randomly covering some of the biggest issues in our country. And nobody has hired her for their network.”

“Would you believe me if I said I preferred to not be tied to someone else’s rules?” I asked sheepishly.

“Yes. I remember you thriving on rules.”

“Apparently writing doesn’t follow the same rules as the rest of somebody else’s life. I tried it and I hated being told what I had to do. I realized pretty quickly that you can’t stifle creativity, even if you’re only writing the truth.”

William tilted his head to one side and pulled on his cigarette. “Wise words. I’m only concerned because you may have to...elaborate on Brett.”

That was what I was afraid of.

“Why don’t you tell me what I shouldn’t be writing?”





CHAPTER FOUR


BRETT



I stared flatly at my mom. “You’re kidding.”

Her brown eyes found mine and she dragged hard on her cigarette. “Am I laughing, son?”

“She is not in there with Dad!” I snapped. “Fuck, how?”

Mom said nothing as she blew out the smoke.

“Camille!” I hissed. I turned on my heel toward the door.

“Is out,” Mom said simply. “Lani is with your father in his office. They don’t wish to be disturbed, but don’t let me stop you.” Her eyes sparkled as she said it.

No, I didn’t want to interrupt them. But they were fucking kidding if they thought Lani Montana was the right person to publicly clean up my act. She knew nothing about me and, since I’d run into her yesterday, it was for the best. Not because she’d hate the person I was, but because she wouldn’t understand.

Slowly, I turned back to my mom.

“You’re still here,” Mom noted. She stubbed out her cigarette in the ashtray and met my eyes. “I thought you’d be down there by now.”

“Why would I be?”

“Because he’s probably telling her every single way you’ve fucked up in the past few years.”

That was all it took. Her tone was so matter-of-fact. She wasn’t chastising me. She was simply saying it as it was. She was telling the straight up truth.

It took only a few seconds to get from Mom’s office to Dad’s. I didn’t bother knocking before I shoved the door open.Dad was sitting on the sofa, cigarette between his fingers. He turned to me instantly, his features hardening.

I barely noticed them as they compared to the soft shock that flitted across Lani’s face. Her dark, brown eyes widened the littlest amount, the very same way her thick, plump lips parted.

“This is your solution?” I asked bitterly. “You’re going to get her to make me seem like a respectful human being?”