Neil Donovan is (incharge) wrote in doorslogs, @ 2013-11-26 17:51:00 |
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Entry tags: | freddie lounds |
Who: Neil
What: Narrative.
Where: Vegas.
When: Uh recently, after Chloe calls England.
Warnings/Rating: Cursing?
Neil's parents rarely called. It would take extreme circumstances for them to initiate contact and even he didn't check in all that often, only on holidays, more routine than anything else.
Yet his cell rang with that familiar-but-unused number as he was out with a realtor, being shown potential houses and properties to replace his Aria suite. He didn't answer at first, letting it go to voicemail, but then it rang again and he excused himself to step outside and take the goddamn call; might as well find out what his parents wanted now. He answered with a crisp, cool hello, no pleasantries, because he'd given up on pretending to care a long time ago.
His mother answered with a high pitched shriek and launched into full lecture mode, with his father adding his disapproval in the background. At first he was utterly confused, his brain slow on the uptake and processing her angry, tear-hitched words too slowly, but then things started sinking in. Sam and destroying the family name and ruining your life, and he found himself at a loss for words. Maybe this should have crossed his mind, maybe Neil should have seen this coming, but he hadn't. He was taken aback, and so he was silent as his mother and father chewed him out for his poor life choices and association with trash.
And then it clicked. "She called you, didn't she?"
I have no idea what you're talking about, they said. Haven't you listened to anything we've said?
Neil rubbed his forehead. He wasn't in the mood for this. "Yeah, I just really don't give a damn. It's my life, not yours."
They didn't take too well to that. The threats started in, promises of disinheritance if he didn't cut off all contact with this Sam person and get his life back on track. We're worried about you, they added, but it was all bullshit. They only cared about the bad press and their own egos. He wasn't a kid anymore; they weren't going to blackmail him into submission.
"Go ahead. I'm not going to stop seeing Sam, so I guess you'll have to disinherit me, won't you?" His voice was coarse, defiant. I dare you.
They threatened to cut off his money. Write him out of the will. Sever all ties. Neil's voice sharpened. "I don't give a damn if you disinherit me. I don't want anything when you die anyway. But you touch my fucking trust fund, the money that's been mine since I was twenty-one, and I go to the press and tell them all about what kind of parents the Donovans really are." His mother gasped. His father began, how dare you, but he cut him off. "I love her. I love Sam. And I know you don't know the fucking meaning of that word, so you can't understand," he shouted, "but you don't get to run my life anymore. You hear me?"
His mother said nothing, just sobbed. His father took the phone and his voice was cold as ice, telling him that he had just chosen 'trailer trash' over his own family-- but, if he reconsidered, he would be written back into their will, welcomed with open arms.
Neil snorted. "Go fuck yourselves." And he hung up.
The silence seemed deafening. He stared down at the phone in his hand and considered contacting his siblings, telling them that he'd just been disinherited. But no, Thanksgiving was coming up and life had been a shitshow for the past few weeks; he didn't want to add to their problems now. He doubted his parents would want to spread the news himself and so he decided to give it a few days before saying anything. He'd need to be in touch with his own lawyers, make sure his trust fund was secure, but he knew the rest of the accounts would be closed. Bye-bye, family money. He'd need to find a new job; maybe he could stay in hotel development but move to a different company. Maybe.
But first, he needed a goddamn place to live since he already had a buyer for the suite. With a sigh Neil pocketed his phone and headed back inside, intending to ask the realtor if she could downgrade his price range just a little.