All The Ways We Touch [BxB]

sixty-four - burning bridges pt. three

Exhaling a deep breath, Elliot left the building, smiling warmly as he approached the podium he'd speak from. He could feel all the eyes on him, but he held his confidence, grateful for his past PR training. Harvey had done as she promised, and there were at least fifteen journalists from different news organizations, a handful of podcasters, influencers, and others waiting to listen. There was no way that his father could try to get rid of all the footage; now he just had to make sure that the footage was worth their while. He'd been training for press and public relations all his life, but this was different. This time, he needed to be human. This time, he needed to engage and speak from his heart.

"Hello, thank you all for being here. My name is Elliot Astor, and you may know me as an Olympic swimming champion, or perhaps you know me because of who my family is. Today I'm here to speak with you about my father, Henry Astor the Third, the CEO of the Astor Company, and great-grandson of the founder of Astoria. As I'm sure you're all aware, my father is due to formally announce his bid for the Senate later this afternoon, which is why it's imperative that I share this critical information to prove there are no circumstances in which he should be allowed in politics.

"My father would have you believe that he is a compassionate, empathetic, and loving family man, but that couldn't be farther from the truth. He'll also tell you that he is a friend to both the working class and the LGBTQ+ communities, but when my father found out that I'm gay—and in a committed relationship with a man that's a part of the working class—he told me that he was a "nobody" that was beneath me, and that I'll have to enter into a heterosexual marriage to produce heirs. You can also look through his charitable donations and find that he's donated money to a variety of people and organizations that are not friendly to the LGBTQ+ communities. I will share pictures of him attending such functions and schmoozing with some controversial company.

"My father is extremely manipulative, and his number one focus in life is to see how he can improve his own circumstances. For example, my boyfriend was put into danger when his identity was leaked publicly. I asked my father to help me keep him safe by lending us a couple of his security guards, but my father refused unless we were willing to lend our full and enthusiastic support to his campaign, including press conferences, photo ops, and social media, in order to help him win over LGBTQ+ and working-class voters. He said that my boyfriend would help him look 'relatable', but there is very little that is relatable about my father—or even me—to the struggles of the overwhelming majority of people in our state, country, and the world at large.

"We are, as some have rightfully said, 'filthy rich', so we cannot relate to what it's like to worry about being able to pay our bills or put food on our tables. How is my father going to be able to understand and represent your struggles when he's never struggled for anything?

"In reality, he's a savage businessman who's ruined countless lives from complicated contracts drawn up by unethical lawyers. Deals that are so heartless and devastating, there have been multiple suicides that occurred after my father bought businesses and immediately laid off their employees to find cheaper employees he could better exploit. My father's choices have contributed to burdened social services to save what equates to a drop in the bucket of what his company is worth. Is that illegal? No, but it is unconscionable.

"Beyond his terrible beliefs about minorities and the working class, and his deadly business dealings and rubbing elbows with convicted white collar criminals, he has also lied to everyone. What I'm about to divulge pains me more than I can say, and will hurt some people to find out this way. For that, I'm deeply apologetic, but I hope these two last secrets will be the nail in the coffin to his political ambitions."

Up until then, Elliot had been able to hold it together, to maintain his composure and speak with confidence. But now came the hard part. After taking a sip of water from a glass on the podium and then a deep breath, he thought of his love for his mother and brother, knowing that they deserved better than what his father had done, and let that drive him.