Children of Dynasty Read Online Free PDF Page A

I’ve been is none of your business.” Kiki’s tone dripped ice water in a manner Rory had never heard before.
    “I’ll make it my business,” Davis threatened.
    “Why would you care where I’ve been?”
    His father suddenly laughed. “I don’t care; I just hope you’re preserving appearances.”
    Rory hated hearing this. Though the gossip rags frequently suggested that infidelity was the way of his family, he liked to think things weren’t this bad. The saddest part was he thought his mother still cared for her husband and hungered for some sign he returned it.
    He was sure of it when her defiant expression crumpled. Apparently close to tears, she said softly, “My bridge club went to afternoon tea at the St. Francis.”
    Anna appeared in the doorway to announce dinner.
    While the family suffered through the strained atmosphere and a meal of roast quail, wild rice, and baby peas, Rory thought that things hadn’t always been like this. As a child, he’d dogged his father’s steps with worshipful adoration, looking up to the man who taught him to sail and took him to construction sites. When he grew older, he continued to admire his father, until he realized he was expected to grow up to be exactly like him. That was when, despite his desire to be a builder, he determined to make it his own way.
    Last night, Mariah had pointed out his inconsistency in going to work for DCI after vowing never to do so. He wondered if she could understand how times and circumstances changed. A few months ago, his mother had come to him and argued the case for his joining the family business.
    “You know I can’t tell if Davis’s ideas are brilliant or demented. He’s getting on in years. You owe it to yourself … and to me … to look out for the family interests.”
    He’d been forced to consider it. With Father growing older, working together might be a last chance for the kind of relationship Rory had dreamed of as a kid. And, though his long-suffering mother laid on the guilt, what cinched it was his boss’s suggestion that only at DCI could Rory learn things Takei could not offer in his smaller company.
    So, he’d come into the business wary, yet at the same time eager. And for a while, he’d begun to believe his fears were unfounded. His father had been reasonably pleasant to work with, and if he were running around on his wife, Rory had seen no signs of it.
    However, in the past month Davis had undergone a change. More driven, shorter-fused, he had treated Kiki with the kind of outright cruelty Rory had witnessed this evening. He also seemed especially focused on beating out John Grant, as if their rivalry were fresh instead of many years old.
    When the family meal ended Kiki left them alone. Davis ushered Rory toward the library. Eight years ago, after driving a shamed and shaken Mariah back to the city from the yacht basin, dropping her off in front of John’s house without Rory having a chance to speak to her alone, his father had led the way to the same austere room lined with shelves of unread books.
    “What were you thinking,” Davis had shouted, “taking up with John Grant’s daughter? If you got that little slut pregnant, don’t even think of running off to Nevada. I’ll make sure any marriage is annulled.”
    Rory figured he could do it with the local judge in his pocket. Nonetheless, he fought back. “I’m not a kid. It’s not your place to dictate my personal life!”
    “I’m your father, and that’s as personal as it gets. If you ever want to run DCI … “
    “That’s your plan.”
    “Or work anywhere in this industry, you’ll stay away from Mariah Grant.”
    Rory had known there’d be trouble if their fathers found out they were seeing each other, but this was worse than he’d imagined.
    “Why wouldn’t you want to merge our companies?” He dangled the carrot. “Think of the power.”
    “I’ll do business with anybody but John Grant.” Davis’s face looked stony. “You put