Bed of Lies by Shelly Ellis Page A

stopped laughing and cleared his throat when his father remained silent and continued to glare at him. “But no, the real reason I came here was to meet you, to . . . to see the man who made me.”
    â€œWell, you’ve met me. You’ve seen me.” George had raised his hands in a “ Now what? ” motion.
    â€œI was . . . also hoping that I could . . . uh, get to know you,” Dante had said, feeling his usual overwhelming confidence starting to falter. “I’d like to meet your fam—”
    â€œThat’s out of the question.” George had shaken his head, risen from his chair, and adjusted his tie. He had walked around his desk. “Look . . . Dante, is it?”
    Damn , Dante had thought, feeling a stab to his chest. He doesn’t even know my name.
    â€œI see no reason to change the arrangement that I had with your mother before she died. She agreed not to make your presence known if I agreed to help her financially. I’ll offer you the same deal.” George had walked the short distance across his office to stand in front of Dante. The two men had been the same height and had the same build. They were almost replicas of each other. “I’m assuming you’ll want an amount more substantial than your mother’s. I sent her a stipend of five thousand dollars a month. How about I increase it by another five thousand for you?”
    â€œYou think . . . you think you can just buy me off?” Dante had asked tightly, feeling an acidic burning in his throat.
    And besides, if he got money from George, it wouldn’t be a measly ten-thousand-dollar check once a month. He wanted what was rightfully owed to him as the true eldest son of George Murdoch. He wanted his father to treat him like he mattered.
    â€œI don’t think I can buy you off, I know I can.” George rested a hand on his shoulder, making Dante sad to realize his father only touched him when he was attempting to bribe him. “Come on, you seem like a reasonable man. I’m willing to negotiate a monthly stipend. And hey, if you continue to keep my secret, I’ll even add you to my will. Just name your price.”
    Dante had angrily shoved his father’s hand off his shoulder. For a second, he was too furious to speak. “To hell with you,” he had muttered before storming out of his father’s office.
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    Dante knew he had a chip on his shoulder the size of Gibraltar, but he felt that chip was warranted. He had been ignored and rejected by his own father. He had tried to take his rightful place as the head of the Murdoch family, but his siblings had thwarted him at every turn, uniting against him and shutting him out entirely.
    But that’s okay , Dante thought as he peered into another hospital room, finding an old man sitting in his hospital bed with a plastic tray at his waist. The old man turned and gazed at Dante quizzically while chewing on mushy string beans.
    I’ll fix their asses , Dante thought as he continued his search.
    Dante saw Terrence’s latest mishap as an opportunity. Dante still might not be the head of Murdoch Conglomerated, or even officially part of the Murdoch family, but this would offer him a chance to exact long-overdue revenge on the so-called Marvelous Murdochs, the M&Ms. He was almost salivating at the chance.
    â€œHey, don’t try to blame me for this shit!” he heard a woman shout. Dante slowed as he drew closer to the room where the voice came from. “Nobody told you to run into that damn car!”
    â€œBut Tasha said you left her alone in the apartment again. She was scared, Renee,” another woman replied. Her voice sounded older and fatigued. “You can’t just leave a child alone like that and go running around in the streets all night! I told you that before. She’s only six years old!”
    Dante stepped into the doorway and saw an older woman with graying hair propped up by a stack