him your life, you piece of shit!”
I reached for her hand to try to calm her down, but she just brushed it away in her rage.
“What kind of father are you? To betray your own son? After what he did for you?”
My father seemed unfazed by her words. “Regardless of what he did, or why he did it, my son did not follow the rules of the Order. It takes a strong man with a stronger disposition to fully complete the Initiation, and I knew that Montgomery would break eventually.” My father spoke with such a disgusted dismissiveness about me.
“And rules are rules. I’m sorry, Son,” he went on, not sounding sorry at all, “but you knew what was expected of you when you agreed to the terms of the Initiation. You broke the rules, and therefore the business will remain with me as the CEO and the one calling the shots.”
“The business is mine,” I snapped. “It’s been mine for years. I’m the only one who has busted his ass to try to keep it a legitimate business our forefathers would be proud of. You have done nothing but soil it all in the name of more money.”
“Money is what gives us power, Son. It’s a shame you’re too weak to realize that.” He looked around to some of the other Elders, laughing slightly as if he expected them all to agree with him before looking back at me.
“I had hoped you’d be strong enough to show me that you could indeed be a man and pass the Initiation, but my fears have come true. You aren’t cut out for it. You’ve always been softer than me. And I can’t protect you any longer. You made your choice when you left, and now it cost you everything.”
But someone had tipped me off this morning. My father’s position was more precarious than he knew. I refused to back down now. So, it was more to the room that I spoke than to the waste of space that was my father.
“Your money is dirty. You’re dirty. I left this morning because I believe in loyalty. I believe in family even though you don’t deserve it. You can go to hell. And if this is what the Order is all about, then you are right about one thing. I am not cut out to be a member of it.”
Mr. St. Claire pounded his cane against the ground to stop the back and forth argument. “Crime is not what the Order is about. Though our practices may be archaic, barbaric even, sinful in many ways, and ritualistic, the mission has always been to rise above the scours of the land. We are kings and dreammakers, not peasants and thieves. Only the most distinguished and powerful men are part of the Order. Our bloodlines represent respect, prestige, and wealth. Not dirty, back alley deals with men below our pedigree. Call it elite… call it whatever you choose.”
My father turned and shot daggers at the man. “St. Claire, with all due respect—”
“Yes, I do deserve respect,” St. Claire interrupted. “So kindly sit down and listen to what I say. I speak on behalf of the Elders.”
My father scanned the Elders looking for some kind of answer, but the faces of the men remained emotionless. I couldn’t read them probably any more than my father could.
St. Claire continued on. “I was the one who called Montgomery and warned him about the impending bust. And yes, the rules clearly state that no one is to leave the manor during the Initiation. But the Elders and I were prepared to make an exception to protect a fellow Elder of the Order.
“We didn’t want to see you go down and as these trials are exactly that—a time of testing—we wanted to test just what kind of man Montgomery was before allowing him into our ranks. A selfish man with only his personal interests at stake would have risked nothing, let you be arrested, and assured his inheritance in the Order since your own foolish recklessness would have landed you in prison.”
St. Claire glared down Montgomery’s father. “What Montgomery showed us instead is that he’s level-headed, loyal, wise, with good judgment for the greater good of the group. He put someone else—you—before himself. He is the exact kind of man we need to be part of the Order. If it were not for this recruit, we would have lost an Elder which is not respectable or good for our organization.