CHAPTER 212: PARAPET

Kayden sat next to his father in the back of his father’s limo as they rode home.

"What are you going to do about-" began Kayden angrily. Desperate to begin planning the hopefully painful demise of the boy that had caused him so much pain.

"Silence!" yelled his father. "We will talk when we get home."

"But-" complained Kayden, not understanding why his father was yelling at him.

"Not. One. More. God. Damned. Word," growled Morton.

Kayden shivered involuntarily. His father had never taken that tone with him. Worse, the last person his father had spoken to that way had died not long after. Sure it was a car accident, but Kayden knew such things could be arranged.

The memory of what had happened in the changing room rampaged through his mind once again.

He’d been so damn close. If only he’d had a few more moments, he could have taken Lily, and her senile grandfather would have had no choice but to give her to him, along with her inheritance.

He still didn’t understand how the boy had gotten into the changing room. He was certain he’d locked the door. And he’d even double-checked it. So how did that accursed boy get inside?!

The pain he’d felt when the boy kicked him, no matter how terrible and mind-crushing it was, had been dwarfed by what followed.

The humiliation of just lying there while they talked about him, like he was no more significant than a piece of furniture. He was Kayden motherfucking Richland!

And now his father was acting strange. Even when his father came to visit him in the hospital, he’d been cold and distant.

At the time, Kayden assumed it was because his father was just distracted by business. It wouldn’t be the first time his father got like that.

But such moods usually cleared up in a day or two. But this time it persisted, and Kayden didn’t know what to think.

He couldn’t talk about what had happened while he was in the hospital, too many ears. So his rage at what had happened just grew and grew, with nowhere to go.

And now his father was using his scary voice, and he didn’t know what to think.

Their limo eventually pulled into their private parking garage.

When they entered their private elevator, their limo driver remained behind, so Kayden thought it would be okay to speak. But when he looked at his father, the look his father returned told him now was not the time to speak.

When they finally entered their penthouse, his father said, "My office, now."

With growing trepidation and confusion, Kayden followed his father to his office.

"Close the door," growled Morton as soon as they both entered.

Kayden closed the door, then turned to look at his father.

"What did I tell you?" asked his father.

Kayden knew better than then play stupid. Especially when his father was like this.

"It was the perfect plan!" he complained. "If only-"

"WHAT. DID. I. TELL. YOU?!" screamed his father.

Kayden nearly shit himself. His father had never spoken to him like this. Or anyone else as far as he knew.

The rage that had been building inside himself over what had happened, combined with the terror he was feeling in the face of his father’s wrath, twisted inside him.

"It was the perfect plan!" he yelled back. "Why are you treating me like this? Why aren’t you hunting that boy?!"

Like flipping a light switch, his father’s rage just disappeared, replaced with a deathly calm.

"That boy. Not only did he save Lily, but he also saved me. I don’t know where I when wrong, but you have never been the man I hoped you would be. I kept waiting, hoping you would..."

His father sighed.

"This incident has freed me. Now that you are no longer a viable heir, I can focus on alternative plans."

Kayden had feared that, with the loss of his balls, his father might decide Kayden was no longer a suitable heir, but had held out some hope that he would be wrong. But his father’s words crushed those hopes.

"So, that’s it?!" asked Kayden, angry and petulant. "You’re just going to throw me away?!"

"You are confined to this penthouse until I figure out what to do with you," said his father coldly.

Then Morton opened his office door.

The look his father gave him said it all. He was dismissed. And discarded.

Rage, humiliation, dread, and something else swirled around inside Kayden as he trudged out of his father’s office.

He didn’t even notice his father closing the door behind him as he headed towards the bar in the sitting room.

He grabbed a bottle of rum from the bar, opened it and took a swig, not bothering with a glass, then paced the room, taking swigs every few seconds.

Soon he’d killed half the bottle and was starting to feel its effects.

Tired of pacing, he flopped down onto the couch.

A flash of pain shot up from between his legs, driving him back up to his feet.

"Fuck!" he yelled.

He fished a pill bottle out of his pocket and popped the top. He didn’t bother counting pills and just poured some pills directly into his mouth before washing them down with another swig of his rum.

When he resumed his pacing, he noticed that one of his father’s security guards had posted up at the entrance to the sitting room and was watching Kayden with a look of suppressed disdain.

He felt like a caged beast with rage and despair swirling around inside him and no way to let it out.

He chugged the rest of the rum he was holding, dropped the bottle on the floor, grabbed another bottle from the bar, then turned and headed towards the elevator. He needed some fresh air.

Once on the roof, Kayden paced back and forth for a few moments before heading for the parapet.

His father had warned him on many occasions that it was foolish of Kayden to walk on the parapet, like some kind of circus act, but it impressed the girls and made him feel alive.

Feeling a touch wobbly, he carefully stepped up onto the parapet and gazed down at the street 70 stories below.

The people looked like ants, and he wished he were a giant so he could crush them all under his heel.

He turned and slowly walked along the parapet, feeling the thrill again of being on the edge, of being one misstep away from death.

Just as he was turning to walk back along the parapet, the pills he’d swallowed kicked in. Combined with the booze, the pills kicked hard, and Kayden wobbled precariously on the parapet.

For a moment, his drug-addled brain cleared as adrenaline surged through. His arms spun as he struggled to regain his balance.

And just as he thought he had succeeded and the rush of endorphins that came with escaping death flushed through him, he felt a jab in his right heel.

His right leg instinctively jerked up off the parapet. Then his drug and booze-addled brain thought, "Oh, shit!" and tried to put his foot back down on the parapet, only to miss and step on empty air.

He tried once again to put his right foot back onto the parapet, but by then he had already tilted out over thin air, so all he accomplished was pushing himself away from the building.

Kayden watched in incomprehension as the top of the building receded away from him. And as the ground rushed up to meet him, the only thought that passed through his mind was, "This cannot be happening!"

Hovering unseen just a few feet away, Jack watched as Kayden plummeted to the ground 70 stories below.

Even from 70 stories up, he heard the meaty thud as Kayden’s body struck the pavement.

It would be a while before Kayden’s father learned of his son’s demise, but given the most recent conversation Jack had overheard, he didn’t think Kayden’s father would be particularly heart broken.

Jack hadn’t assumed Kayden would walk the parapet, but it was one of the scenarios he’d planned for. And all it took was one quick jap in the heel using a little black magic and poof, Kayden took his first, and last, flying lesson.

As the saying goes, chance favors the prepared, and Jack was prepared.