Falling For The Biker - Chapter 49: Chapter 49

Arthur’s POV
I took a subconscious step back, watching my father. “What is the meaning of this?” I asked.
The side of his lips curved up, a smile I was well aware of. Victory and pride. Unfortunately, it always had something to do with making me succumb. He loaded the gun, staring at it like some trophy.
“What do you think will happen if I shot your legs?” he asked, but I knew he didn’t need me to respond. He chuckled.
“You will be crippled, right? And certainly won’t be able to get on a bike ever again,” he finally looked at me. “Am I right?”
“Forcing me to take control that way would not get any of us respect. The board certainly wouldn’t want a cripple as their leader, which might lead to Neil taking over,” I said.
“I lose, you lose, son,”
“You really should have gotten more children,”
“I didn’t need many children. One should have been enough, but I was blessed with a fool as a son. If I knew you would be this useless, I would have gotten more children,”
Those words hurt more than I would like to admit. A small part of me still wanted him to treat me like a human being he birthed, not one who he always needed to control and push his ideologies on.
That certainly was a dream. “You lost the race,” he said, placing the gun down.
“I was distracted,” I defended.
“Or maybe you aren’t cut out for that world,” he said.
I opened my mouth to speak — yell, but thought better of it. “It’s an insignificant game. A lose or a win doesn’t matter. And this isn’t my first rodeo. I’ll get on track on the main game,” I told him, but it only got a scoff.
“I know what you have a hand in what happened to Maria,” he changed the topic.
“She overstepped,” I simply said. I wasn’t planning on telling him my main reason.
“Overstepped?” he sounded like the word was foreign. “She is your fiancée. Her actions aren’t wrong,”
I looked away. I needed the conversation to end. “Son,” the door flung open and Mum walked in.
She gave me a big smile, wrapping her hands around me. “You’re home. I had the maids prepare your favourites. Come, come, you two can have your conversations later.” Mum pulled me out of the study, leading me to the dining area.
I tried to serve myself, but Mum stopped me, signaling the maids to do it. “Maria only wanted people to know you are her fiancé. It is no reason to do what you did,” Dad said as he ate.
“Yes, son. We asked her to attend the party. I’m sure she only got a little carried away and wanted people to know,” Mum said, placing a hand over mine.
It seemed she had lied to them. That was good, at least. I did not want them knowing about Sierra just yet. “I’ll break off the engagement,” my father’s words made me pause, my spoon halfway into my lips.
I studied his face, trying to spot if he was bluffing. “What?” he asked, staring back at me. “Isn’t that what you wanted?” he spoke calmly, unbothered. He dropped his gaze back to his food.
“With such information, it would be wrong for her to be my daughter-in-law. The engagement is off,” he added.
Mum smiled. “And we’ll find you someone else,”
They just had to ruin it. Mum noticed my frown. “We can’t let you remain single all your life. We have to step in,” she said.
“I’ve decided to let you get someone on your own,” Dad said, not just catching me off guard, but Mum as well.
He was taking this a little differently than I thought he would. “Thank you,” I appreciated.
As much as I wasn’t sure what was going through his head, I wanted to believe he really did mean what he said. He nodded. Soon after, he was done eating. He wiped his lips and stood. “You have until the end of January to find someone or you’ll be married the next day,” he said and walked off.
I was happy with that. For now, I didn’t have to worry about them setting me up with someone else. Perfect. “Stay, son,” Mum’s voice was low, almost pleading as she stared at me.
“No,” I simply said, getting off the seats.
Things might seem alright right now, but that did not mean I could stand so many servants in my house. I needed peace and quiet when I came home with only a few people tolerated at a time, but there were over twenty servants here.
“I can send the servants off for the night if that’ll make you stay,” Mum said, still trying to convince me to stay.
“You can’t get them to leave tonight,” I said.
“So?” Mum gave me a big smile, giving me that look she knew always found a way to melt my heart.
“Fine, tomorrow, I will stay over. Happy?” I told her.
She nodded. “I need to prepare,” she said, rushing up the stairs.
I shook my head, feeling better than I always have been whenever I visited my parents. Whatever it was, I could only hope it would last. Patrick handed me the keys to Jackson’s bike as I walked out the door.
Just as I was about to get on the bike, my phone buzzed.
I’m guessing you liked what I did. I can make everything turn upside down. You do as I say or someone would just have to find out about Sierra.