Cats In the Cradle

10. Daniel

After graduation, I moved back to LA and got an apartment near my mom's house. I was easily able to find a job at what was formerly DeSantos Financial Services. After my parents' divorce and Alessandro's imprisonment, a new CEO was appointed, and the name was changed to Augustus Financial Services.

The CEO, Allen Augustus, was the exact opposite of Alessandro, apparently. He was in his 60s and was a big family man with good, traditional values. Tall, chiseled, squeaky clean, with a devoted, always-smiling wife and an almost disturbing amount of children.

I guess the board members thought it was a good idea to hire a CEO who was as far apart from Alessandro as possible.

He was almost weirdly nice and made it a point to learn everyone's names and ask about minuscule details about your life that you'd mentioned in passing. He regularly held cushy employee retreats and was a huge advocate for work-life balance. Family was the most important thing. Working hard was necessary, but building a life outside of work was everything.

Everyone liked him. I actually really liked him, too. And it seemed like the feeling was mutual, because he kind of took me under his wing. He frequently praised me, telling me I was very intelligent and intuitive. He said he could tell I was a natural leader and often asked why a tall, strong, handsome man like myself wasn't married with children yet.

He called me "son" sometimes, and I found that I didn't hate it.

My mom seemed a little uncomfortable with me working there—vaguely murmuring something about bad memories—but she didn't outright object. Still, I think everyone wondered why'd I'd accepted the job offer there, of all places.

I told them the salary and benefits just happened to beat out the rest of the offers, and that's all there was to it.

But that wasn't the truth.

My relationship with Sienna really made me question my life and my upbringing. Made me want to find out more about my family and connect with my roots. My mom had done a wonderful job of raising me and my siblings. She was loving, caring, supportive, and we all knew we could talk to her about anything. No topic was too taboo or off-limits.

Except Alessandro.

I was 22 years old and she still had only ever given me a few vague explanations for why things didn't work out between them and why he was in prison. All she really said was that he wasn't a good man, and she was doing her best to make sure none of us turned out like him.

So I asked my siblings about it one day, when my mom was in court.

"You seriously have never Googled him??" Ana asked me incredulously, barely glancing away from the tv screen. They were all watching Godzilla. Again.

"Mom always begged us not to. I figured it was probably best not to know." I said lamely, suddenly feeling stupid.

"Yeah, he's an actual psychopath. Completely obsessed with mom, locking her in the basement, full-on torture, sex slave shit." Kayden told me casually, his mouth full of popcorn.

"And Uncle Rurik helped her escape! Did you know they used to date?" Aaliyah asked me.

"He's definitely still in love with her, though. I heard him begging her to take him back like a year ago, when I came home early from class...Ok I skipped class... But yeah, they have definitely fucked. Weird, right?" Ana added.

Horrifying, actually.

Was I the only one who'd listened when she told us not to Google their divorce? Jesus.

And Uncle Rurik wanted her? They used to date?? When? Was there a possibility that he could've been my stepdad growing up? Why didn't she want him?

What had caused things to go so badly between her and Alessandro? Were they just like me and Sienna? Started out as lovers and then it just got more and more fucked up?