Thorn

“What’s the update?” I asked him when we got to the attorney’s office.

“We can go in and see him,” Moses, the man I had met up with earlier at the lounge, said.

I stopped him.

“Is this going to work?” I asked him.

“We won’t know unless we try, right?” He asked in return.

He had been able to secure an appointment with the stiff-necked attorney for the second time. Damn, I really hated the man.

He was a man in his late seventies, and I wondered why he hadn’t retired yet. Old people had a way of being strict and uptight.

My dad was a freaking example.

“But we have to make it work this time around, Thorn,” Moses said. “Attorney Lumberman will not grant a third audience,” he told me.

I nodded tightly, knowing that Moses had done his beat; I couldn’t even deny that.

We got into the old Attorney’s office, and met him looking through some papers with his glasses.

“I didn’t think you would be back here again, Thorn Crowe,” Attorney Lumberman said without even raising his head to look at us.

I seized the opportunity to glare at him.

“You have something I need urgently,” I retorted.

Moses nudged me, urging me to be polite and respectful. Attorney Lumberman was big on respect and some bloody curtsey, which always infuriated the hell out of me. I always preferred to hang around my peers, like Moses, because that way, there wouldn’t be need to act all stiff and uptight.

This was the exact reason my dad and I never got along, and to make matters worse, he had to go and sleep with…

“Do I?” Attorney Lumberman asked sarcastically.

“May we sit, sir?” Moses asked nicely.

“Sure,” the attorney said.

Moses and I sat down across from him.

“I hope you were well informed that this will be the last time I will grant a meeting if you haven’t done what you are supposed to do.” he asked me.

I ground my teeth in annoyance.

I was used to getting everything and anything I wanted the moment I asked; from friends, lovers, and my dad…well, except lately when he began to preach about coming to work at the company, and worse, starting from the ground level, and hard work, and respect, and dignity, and decency, and all the other upsetting words he had used.

Why on earth would I, Thorn Crowe, the one and only son of the CEO, start working at a company that would be mine pretty soon from ground level? That was the highest form of disrespect and disregard I had ever seen, and I had thrown the damn offer in my dad’s face.

It was even a good thing I declined because I couldn’t imagine seeing the face of the man who slept with my fiancée every single day. I would have killed him with my bare hands.

“Yes, he is, sir,” Moses answered respectfully on my behalf.

“State your course,” he demanded gruffly.

“The money,” I simply said.

“You mean Seraphina Gale’s bounty inheritance?” Attorney Lumberman asked.

“Yes, that one,” I answered tightly.

I was really trying so hard not to lash out at the old man, and that was simply because I wanted this meeting to be very successful.

“I already told you what needs to be done, Thorn” Attorney Lumberman said. “Until she is married, only then can you have access to the money. She doesn’t even know about the inheritance because according to the clause attached to it, Seraphina is not to know about it or have access to it until she is legally married,” he explained. “I have explained this to you before, Thorn. I don’t appreciate it when people make me repeat things,” he added.

“But she is my fiancée already, and we are going to get married,” I said with certainty. “I just need the money urgently,” I added.

“Engaged and married are two different words, Thorn. You might not be smart, but you surely know this, don’t you?” Attorney Lumberman asked.

“Don’t you dare insult me, old man,” I warned, unable to control my temper any longer.

Moses had to hold me down to prevent me from rising and punching the man to his death.

Attorney Lumberman looked at me square in the eyes and said, “You are an uncouth, and a lawless, and a disrespectful young man, Thorn Crowe, and a disgrace to your father.”

I attempted to stand up, too enraged now to spare him one punch, but Moses held me down tightly.

Attorney Lumberman looked at me and shook his head.

“I wonder how a noble man like Kaelan Crowe ended up with a nonentity for a son,” he added.

At this point, I was boiling with rage.

“Let me go, Moses!” I barked at Moses, but he didn’t let me go.

The door burst open just then, and three dangerous and mean looking security bodyguards stormed in.

“Take them out,” Attorney Lumberman instructed.

And instantly, Moses and I felt strong arms grab us like common criminals.

“I don’t want to ever set my eyes on you, Thorn, unless I absolutely have to,” Attorney Lumberman added distastefully.

“Oh, I bet you will, and you will swallow every word you have said to me today,” I told him before the security guards dragged us out of the office.

They threw us out. Moses and I almost landed on our butt. Moses was filled with disappointment and anger.

“That wasn’t the plan, Thorn,” he stated.

My shoulders sagged, because once again, I had allowed my temper to get a hold of me.

“I brought an information to you, one that Seraphina doesn’t even know about, and you ended up ruining it for yourself,” Moses scolded.

“That’s enough, please,” I snapped at Moses.

Even if I was a bit remorseful, it didn’t mean that Moses suddenly had the right or audacity to scold me.

We turned to leave, but a flashy car with tinted glasses pulled close to us, almost running us over, and I knew instantly that it was my worst nightmare, Lucas.

The front car door swung open and his bodyguard stepped out, a gun flashing in our eyes.

“Get in, Thorn,” he ordered me as he opened the back door.