Step outside and shut the door. It wasn’t something that bothered young David – he was more concerned about how immaculate his suit wasn’t looking or troubled by the rain incessantly bashing against the windows and how it would make his hair look funny to notice the way his uncle and those Merchant associates appraised him.
David Riedmaier at fourteen years of age was a gamble turning into a successful long-term investment.
He’s past forty when he starts his own family and has his own children. He doesn’t love his wife the way most husbands do, but he cares about her. She knows he’s not attracted to women and the man he really loves is dead now, but he loves their children, and that’s all she can ask for. When his son starts going to school – that’s when they show up at his house.
Is this your son, David? Isn’t it time you found your successor? You know, the younger they start the better they’ll be.
“Daddy. Daddy? Dad – what’s wrong?”
Tugging at his father’s sleeve, he’s shorter than the tabletop so he can’t see his father’s Merchant associates smiling down at him.
“Callum, could you… leave us for a moment please?”
He smiles from under his father’s warm hand ruffling his hair and nods. He has to stand on his toes in order to reach the doorknob and close the door behind the serious conversation going on in the kitchen.
As he runs upstairs he doesn’t hear the silenced gunshots or David cleaning up the mess.