TOBY.
I had fallen asleep on the couch after a hectic day at work when my father's call came in. I answered the call feeling upset that he had woken me up from sleep, "so much for it being the weekend," was the last thing I mumbled before his voice reached my ear. I remember when I used to be the first one out partying all weekend long and the last one to quit but now I'm too tired to go up to my room.
"Where is your wife?" He asked.
"She's probably in her room I guess, "I said, confused at his question.
"What do you mean by you guess? Where the hell is your wife?" At his questions, I just knew I gave him the wrong answer. Where could Ruby have gone, I just hoped she didn't make the mistake of trying to run away again.
"In her room," I answered. I tried to sound as certain as possible but I wasn't quite sure.
"Okay then, go give her the phone, I'd like to talk to her," He said calmly. I walked up the stairs and to Ruby's room door with the call still connected. My father must have disconnected the call at some point so I slipped it into my pocket and knocked on her door a few times. There was no answer so I decided to push it open but it was locked. I panicked for a minute. What if she had locked herself in and something had happened to her? Then I remembered I had spare keys to all the rooms in the house. I jogged to my room and rushed back to her room door, after fiddling with a bunch of keys I finally found a key that matched. On opening the door the scene that met me was quite different from what I had imagined. Ruby had not tripped and fallen, lying in a pool of her blood but she was missing. I checked the walk-in closet, and the bathroom but they were all empty. The room was clean, organised and empty. So I searched the rest of the house and she wasn't in any of the rooms.
After having a mini panic attack in the kitchen the bright idea was to call her cane to me so I did but she wouldn't pick up. I poured myself a glass of water and sat on the kitchen counter just thinking. Where could she be and what the hell would I tell my father? His call came in at that moment and I contemplated not picking up but I decided against it.
"Are you done searching?" He asked sarcastically.
"Yes," I answered stupidly.
"Now I ask again, where is your wife?"
"I don't know," I answered truthfully with my head bowed in shame. I felt like I was ten again confessing to a crime I had committed.
"Husband of the year," he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Come over to the house now, there's a lot for us to discuss."
I nod forgetting he couldn't see me and he cuts the call before I can form a reply. I'm off the couch and out the door in a split second.
"Your father is waiting for you in his study," one of the helpers announced once I stepped inside. I looked out for my mother as I walked to his study but she was nowhere in sight. She is usually the buffer in our interactions so I hoped to find she was already in his study. No such luck was on my side, I pushed back the heavy wooden doors to see my father on his large mahogany desk going through some papers. He ignored my greetings and throws a file at me. My father just loves hard copies he could have just sent me the file I think as I open the file he gave me. I open the file to reveal glossy picture after picture showing Aiden and Ruby at the airport, at a farm and then cozied up at a spa. The pictures look like they were taken without their knowledge.
I clenched my fist in anger, while my other hand squeezed the pictures I held before I threw them at my father's desk. Just one landed on the table while the rest flew to the floor. I looked up to see my father watching me.
"So he cares," my father said coldly.
"I don't," I grit out then take a seat across from him.
"Well, I do. You had me believing you had everything under control and then this. Your wife runs off with your cousin and we are the last to know. This shit is all over the media. The Daniels are trending and it's not for anything good. Do you know what this can do to my reputation? What it is already doing."
"I don't think she ran away."
"What the hell does that matter? The story is out there including the story of her pregnancy which I told you to announce weeks ago. Now every blogger and news outlet including my enemies can twist this story whichever way they please." I keep mute as he rants, I don't know what to say. "You don't have anything to say, do you."
"What should I say, it's not like any of this is my fault yet I'm the one getting the scolding."
"How isn't this any of your fault, how? This is all your fault. You had one small job to do, keep the girl in line. All you had to do was charm her into doing your will, the girl has always liked you, it shouldn't have been that hard."
"Can we just move on and stop throwing blame around? What can we do to manage the situation?"
"You're asking me? You can't even come up with a solution." He laughed. Angering me.
"I'm just asking so we can rub minds, and come up with a plan together."
"Don't bother, I already have everything under control. I'm only talking to you so you can do your part better next time. Your wife will be here in no time, this time endear yourself to her so she can do our bidding."
"Are you talking to me or chastising me?"
"Is the baby yours or not?" He asked I hesitate to answer so he continued, "the answer doesn't matter, she is your wife so you are the father. Am I understood?"
"Yeah, I understand."
"We'll paint the whole thing to the media as a little couples spite," he explained and I nodded. "Ensure you keep your mistresses' pregnancy under control and out of the media or I will wash my hands off you completely," he said, making me gape in surprise. How the hell did he know?