Gunpoint

The News (Part 2)

Heading down to Dads office felt painstakingly slow. I was dreading what he wanted to speak about as we never saw our parents very often anymore. Gently squeezing my sister's hand, I knocked on the door three times and braced myself for whatever awaited Amelia and Me.

"Come in." the reply was short and straight to the point, just like always.

Dad was sitting behind his desk with mum next to him. When mum saw us enter, she gave us a bright smile and gestured for the two of us to take a seat opposite them. Mum was here as well!? This really must be serious.

"We wanted to speak to you about something...important," began mum, trying to lighten the tension evident in the room.

We knew not to talk...yet.

Then dad spoke, "I have some very important work that needs to be done in the United States of America with some other businesses, and therefore have to go. I have also decided to take your mother with me to give her a break."

I thought he was done talking but I was wrong, as per usual when it comes to my father.

"It has also come to my attention that, if I were to leave the two of you home, something is going to happen and I'm not risking the chance that the house may be burned down to the ground by the time I get back, which means the two of you will be coming with us." he continues.

"But..." I try to say before I'm cut off.

"This is non-negotiable, you are going and that is final, especially you Jason, you are the heir to the family business and I don't need any of your silly attempts at trying to escape, again." demanded my father, giving me a hard glare.

"Daddy, I don't want to go to America! What about Chloe and my holiday plans!" cried Millie, sounding so heartbroken.

This made mum tear up a little. Which in turn made dads emotionless face, soften ever so slightly. As you could see, Millie is mums little girl, as she says, 'us girls gotta stick together bro!'

Unlike Millie, I actually get along a lot better with dad. Which is unfortunate, I can never find the loop hole of getting past everything dad wants me to do. Although I also do get a lot more stuff than Millie due to being his favourite.

"Well, I suppose I can talk to Chloe's parents to see if you'll be able to stay with them, while your mother, Jason and I go to the United States."

I probably look like a goldfish right now. That's how shocked I was. How did Amelia always seem to get her way out of these situations yet I always get sucked into them further!

The resolution in dads eyes made it clear there was no getting out of this situation so I hastily closed my mouth and didn't make a single sound, hanging my head low in defeat.

"So back to the MAIN topic." Dad turned his attention back to me. "We will be leaving in around a week and I expect you to be completely packed and ready to leave. Our flight is at 10:15am next Thursday and we will be taking our private jet.

"What about school?" I ask. My education was very important to my parents and I was generally curious about what they would do about it. I was also sort of hoping dad hadn't planned that far, meaning I might be able to stay here at home and not go to the USA.

My hopes were crushed again.

"Don't worry about that Jason, I've already planned for you to go to a school over there," why does my father always have to plan ahead?

As if knowing exactly what I thought, dad then added, "there's no getting out of this one son, you may as well just admit defeat now."

I sighed and my shoulders sagged. He was right, and I hated the fact. But what I hated even more was the victorious smirk he gave me. Even after I had shown he had won, I knew dad still wanted me to say it out loud. I guess I'll have to swallow my pride even more, so that I don't make dad mad. It's best not to get my father angry. Especially when the punishment would be horrible and make me learn my place.

Let's just say my parents are extremely kind, however they wanted us to be disciplined at a young age. This included very old fashioned punishments. Actually, they'd use any type of punishment just to make us listen to them, including isolation, starvation and some, chaining us to a wall in the cell we have located in our house and sometimes(only under extreme circumstances) whipping.

And let me just warn you, being whipped hurts so bad, and they only did it lightly! Details can be saved for a later date, believe me when I say that it's very long and depressing and not something I ever want to talk about again....

So, on a happier note, (and back to the main story), there was only one thing that I could say, "Yes father, I understand this is the best thing for me."

"that's excellent news my son, now as much as I always love family conversations such as this one, I still have a lot of work left to do, so instead why don't we continue at dinner."

With that reply my sister and I mumbled our goodbyes to our parents and quickly scurried out of the office back to our floor.

Walking up the stairs, Millie gave me a sympathetic smile. "Sorry I couldn't help you out there bro, but you know there was nothing I could do about it, dad has a tight leash on you and your actions and we both know that he's only going to make it tighter if you try to rebel against him."

"Don't worry Millie, we both know there was nothing either of us could do, and think on the bright side, at least one of us got out of that predicament." I said, trying to lighten the mood, although I couldn't hide the hint of sadness in my voice. In truth, I was looking forward to go to the USA, but I just wished my father wouldn't force me into these things. This may sound really cheesy to you but, I wished dad would trust me more and show more affection towards both my little sister and me.

"Well, I should probably start packing, I definitely don't want to make him mad. Why don't you go invite some friends over, it'd be much more fun than being depressed over me."

"Are you sure Jase?"

"Of course, besides I clearly remember you promising to them that they could come over sometime this week and now is a better time than any." When she still didn't move I added, "Come on Amelia do it for me, please."

Amelia looked very doubtful at my response but still left me anyway, knowing that I was too stubborn to agree with anything she said.

I sighed again. What had I gotten myself into?