by T. J. Kline
His father glared at him, waiting for his assistant to leave before rising from behind the massive mahogany desk to stand at the wall of plated glass, overlooking the city below, like a king looking down on his subjects.
“How dare you question me in front of anyone.”
He might be almost seventy but Oliver Bolton was as fit as a man half his age, and four times as powerful. The man was terrifying when Daniel was a kid. Now at thirty-three, he couldn’t quite see his father as anything less than imposing.
“I didn’t question you, I'm just surprised--”
“My authority is final. Do you understand? Bolton Financial is not yours and, if you question me again, it never will be.”
Threats, like every dictator who’d ruled before him.
Daniel learned early on not to challenge his father. Hell, the first memory branded into his brain was of his father choking his mother and, to this day, he still didn’t have a clue what triggered his father’s wrath. The man was cold, hard and callous, doing everything in his power to make sure Daniel and his two older siblings were raised to follow in his oppressive footsteps.
Instead, he drove Daniel’s sister, Haley, into the arms of a hotel baron in France where, luckily she continued to avoid contact with their father. Jaime, on the other hand, refused to accept their mother’s suicide, blaming their father for her death, which lead to an investigation and ended with Jaime crucified on the stand for his addictions and their father exonerated of any charges in their mother’s death. Jaime blamed himself for failing her and ended his life, drunk on a mountainside, taking a turn too fast and rolling his car into a ravine. Which left Daniel trying to survive his father’s venomous outbursts alone.
But Daniel learned the man’s expectations. There were only two options in life - succeed or die trying - and he would probably going to fall in to the latter category. He simply didn’t have his father’s cut-throat business acumen, nor did he want to. He was a disappointment, he’d been told so often enough by his father that he believed him. There was nothing he could do to change the man’s view of him this late in life.
“I am shocked by how lucky we’ve been. Reports show our new client numbers have fallen. How can we possibly continue to see this sort of increase in revenue with only returning clients?”
Daniel realized he was pushing his father’s buttons by asking about the profits, but he was unwilling to back down. Something didn't add up, and he didn't want to get blindsided by the ramifications of his father's unethical methods. He wanted to get to the truth so his T’s were crossed and his I’s were dotted before authorities came looking for him.
“It’s not luck.” His father clasped his hands behind his back, staring at the street far below, not bothering to deign to look at his son. “You see those people?” Daniel moved to stand beside his father. “Those people are sheep. They believe what we tell them. Whatever we tell them. They will always believe the shepherd because they trust him. I am the shepherd. And when my sheep cease being profitable, they become expendable.” His father glanced his way, arching a regal grayed brow. “Do you understand what I’m saying?”
Daniel nodded, disgust welling in his gut as he came to grips with his father’s depravity. The man held no sense of virtue, no decency. They were talking about people, not lambs led to the slaughter.
“You will care for those who continue to listen, or continue to pay their dues. With the rest, you ‘cull the herd,’ so to speak.”
“You’re learning.” His father slapped his shoulder roughly as his lips split apart, his smile looking more like a sneer.
Self-loathing filled him with every acerbic bit of his father’s approval. He would have to sell his soul to gain this man’s admiration.
His father turned back to his desk, leaning his hands on the top of it. “Becoming less like your mother and more like me each day.”
His father’s words pierced his heart. Daniel adored his mother until the day she died, on his twelfth birthday. The only bright spot of his miserable young life, it infuriated him to hear her constantly degraded. Daniel balled his fists, trying to contain the rage bubbling up within him.
“Don’t.”
His father glanced up with a chuckle, leering at him. “Feeling your oats, boy?”
Daniel turned away from the man, intent on getting out of the office as quickly as possible. He’d listened this mocking tone from his father enough times to know the man was baiting him, looking for a fight, for whatever reason, and Daniel wasn’t going to play his game.
The fist cuffing the back of his head didn’t come as a complete surprise, but his reaction to it did. Daniel spun, grasping the front of his father’s suit. His fingers curled into the material, lifting his father off the ground and shoved him backward and against the wall of windows, easily clearing the four steps between them and the wall. A faint crack pierced their ragged breathing and Daniel wondered if some of the glass might give way, but he wouldn't let go. They might be the same height but Daniel had youth and adrenaline in his favor.
“Never mention her again.” He shook his father slightly. “Do you understand?”
His father’s smile was sinister as his hands wrapped around Daniel’s wrists, digging into the flesh. “You’d better finish what you’re starting because once you let me go, you know what will happen.”
Daniel clenched his teeth together and shoved his father. The man’s arm caught the edge of a chair as it skittered sideways as he crashed to the ground.
“Nothing will happen. I’m done with you.”
Daniel spun on his heel, wanting to getting as far away from this man as possible. He was finished with his tyranny. Whatever his father might be doing with this company, whatever questionable activities his father had invested in, walking away would protect him more than anything he might accomplish by staying.
Daniel froze with his hand on the door. If he turned back he was giving in to this man’s authority again.
“Stop!”
His father tried to yell again, but it only came out on a wheeze of sound. His father gasped for air and empathy won out over self-preservation as Daniel turned back in time to see his father collapse on the floor beside his desk, his eyes bulging from their sockets as he sucked in shallow breaths. Daniel didn’t think; he ran back to his father as the old man clutched at the tie dangling from his neck, his hands clawing at the strip of designer silk. Daniel jerked the perfect Windsor knot loose and jerked open his shirt, sending buttons skittering over the hardwood floor.
“Someone, help!” He reached a hand to the desk, trying to press the intercom button, calling for his father’s assistant. “Call nine-one-one,” he yelled, praying someone still sat at the desk. “Dad?”
His father’s hand reached for the front of Daniel’s shirt, weakly pulling him forward. “You…” Fingers dug into his arm like talons. “…did…this.”
“No.” Daniel scrambled backward as his father’s assistant came running into the room with a cell phone in his hand.
Daniel barely noticed the instructions of the operator on the phone. The assistant set the phone on the floor and prepared to give his father CPR.
“He’s not breathing.” His father’s assistant spoke but Daniel wasn’t sure whether the comment was directed at him or the operator on the phone.
“One, two, three, four, five,” the assistant counted.
The man continued to compress his father’s chest, using his hands to force a heartbeat where Daniel suspected there never had been one.
Daniel backed away as the assistant worked on his father, unable to dredge up the slightest bit of sympathy for the man who’d driven his mother to her death. Oliver Bolton was a cruel man, heartless and deadly, and it looked like karma would come back to bite him in the ass. The irony of his father, dying on the floor of his penthouse office, high in the sky overlooking his kingdom wasn't lost on Daniel.
The king is dead.
AVAILABLE JAN 2018
A
cknowledgments
I honestly don’t even know where to begin to thank everyone who helped with the birth of this book. Like an actual birth, it’s been something that held so much promise for me, so much expectation and something I’ve wanted for so long that it really did feel like the birth of a child.
First, I have to thank my Kassidy Klinesmith. Not only did she offer up advice and amazing editing services, but she constantly reminded me that I needed to take chances and push the envelope. I’m so thrilled about the turn our relationship has taken and can’t wait to see what the future holds.
I also need to thank my writer buddies, Codi Gary, Alexis Anne and Kristin Miller. Without your eyes on this project, I might have given up when it got difficult (like it always does.) I would have listened to my fears and turned back. Thank you for pushing me forward, being there for coffee dates and phone calls and my incessant questioning about all things. Not to mention letting me gush when needed.
I’d like to thank each and every reader who has purchased a book, reviewed a book or sent a note. You don’t realize how much each of you matters to me as I sit at my computer, staring at the blank screen and prepare to bleed my soul onto the keyboard. You are the reason I continue to put words onto the page when I start wondering if I’m not a little crazy for doing what I do. (The answer is yes, by the way!) Without you spreading the word about me, I’d be living with too many voices in my head.
Finally, thank you to the love of my life, Bryun. You have held my hand every step of this glorious, messy, crazy, disgusting, rollercoaster we call our lives and given me the opportunity to live my dream. You have been my sounding board, my partner in crime and the yin to my yang for the past twenty years and, every day, I’m so glad I made that phone call.
About the Author
T.J. Kline is the author of over fifteen contemporary romance novels.
When she’s not writing and bringing imaginary people to life, she’s busy hiking the foothills of the Gold Country of Northern California looking for inspiration with her high school sweetheart husband, who still makes her heart flutter wildly and plies her with coffee, chocolate and red wine. She also spends her “spare” time begging her three nearly children to spend more time with her. When not doing either of those, she’s busy with her menagerie of pets including dogs, cats and horses, all of which are wildly spoiled and demand constant attention.
Find out more at
www.TJKline.com
[email protected]
Also by T.J. Kline
THE RODEO SERIES:
Rodeo Queen
The Cowboy and the Angel
Learning the Ropes
Runaway Cowboy
THE HEALING HARTS SERIES:
Heart’s Desire
Taking Heart
Close to Heart
Wild at Heart
Change of Heart
THE HIDDEN FALLS SERIES:
Making the Play
Daring to Fall
Risking It All
OTHERS:
James Patterson Presents: The Radcliffes
Once a Heartbreaker