Promises Made, Promises Broken - SYTYCW (Bad Reputation)

Present Day (Chapter Five) Saturday

Joey

I shouldn't have been surprised when my dad greeted me on my way out the door, but I was so wrapped up in myself that I jumped back, startled.  He grabbed the door and held it open, blocking me from turning the handle.

"What did you find out?" he demanded immediately.

"That I'm not ready to be working on Fridays." I tried to slide by.

I made it three steps before he grabbed my arm. "Who's trying to stop the construction from going forward?"

"I don't know," I admitted as I shrugged off his grip. "But whoever she is, she's hired Bromner."

My father's eyebrows shot up. "She?"

"Yes, Dad," I sighed. "The person who's running the company is a girl."

"How old?"

"I don't know. My age?"

"And did she hire Bromner on retainer? Or pro-bono?"

"I'm not sure. Pro-bono if I had to guess."

"What's the name of her company?"

"Greenleaf Go-Getters, or something like that."

My dad's expression became amused.  He wasn't the kind of guy who would feel threatened by a company with such a cutesy name.  It bothered me that he seemed so relaxed and self-assured.

"I think she's tougher than the name would lead you to believe," I told him. "She looked determined."

At least she did until she saw Mark.

There was no need to expose her emotional vulnerability to my father.  It would just make him even more confident that he was going to win than he already was.  He was looking at me thoughtfully, scrutinizing me expression.  What could he see?

"Can I go, Dad?"

"I want you to find out who she is," he replied.

"I'm on it."

"Hard to tell from where I sit."

"Maybe I don't want to find out who she is," I lied.

"Not for my sake, you don't."

Was I so transparent? "Dad…"

"Do it anyway," he commanded.

"How am I supposed to do it? Bomner made it clear she wasn't giving over personal details. And the city agreed to her conditions."

"You're charming. You're clever. I'm sure you can find a way to get a pretty girl to give you more than her name," he told me.

"I didn't say she was pretty."

"You didn't have to." 

"You want me to use her, Dad? That's a new low."

"Do this, and I'll free up your trust fund," he told me.

My heart clenched.  The money in that fund was supposed to have come to me on my twenty-first birthday, but my father had clawed it back after everything that happened.

"You think I can be bought?" 

My dad shrugged. "Maybe not so much with cash. But I'm quite sure you want the freedom that comes with that money more than you want to cling to your integrity."

He turned and walked away, and I couldn't make myself call him back.

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