Free No Turning Back (The Traveler) by Omar Tyree Page B

out. Is the guy loaded or what?”
    Jonah deliberated on how to give him her answer. “Let’s just say your mother struck a very beneficial deal to look after you with.”
    Gary snapped, “Look, let’s just cut the bull. Okay? If you really have something to tell me, then spit it out. I don’t have all morning to play guessing games with you. Do you know my father or not?”
    He had a point. There was no use in continued stalling. She already had his undivided attention, so Jonah decided to stop wasting time with him.
    “Gary, your mother was a very dignified woman and a passionate teenager who was wise beyond her years. And when she became pregnant in an affair with a wealthy older man, although she was defiant, lonesome and eager to have his baby, she was also competent enough in her situation to agree to an oath of silence. She knew that it would benefit her and her child long-term.”
    “Yeah, well, he didn’t have a choice. He got her pregnant, didn’t he?” Gary commented. He didn’t like the reality of the information though. It made his mother out to be a young gold-digger.
    Jonah continued. “Well, that was twenty-seven years ago. And your father was initially skeptical of whether she could uphold her part of the agreement. But as she began to establish her own career in Louisville, your father became impressed with her; so impressed that he decided to stay informed on her progress while seeing to it that her son received the best of everything.”
    Gary listened patiently and smiled at it all. Her story was so preposterous that he began to laugh. “Yeah, as long as the old man could keep his distance from us, right?”
    Jonah paused again. She said, “I can finish when you’re ready. But while you’re so quick to pass judgment, let me ask you a question.”
    “Go ahead. Shoot.”
    “If you were a married and wealthy man, with a reputation and an empire at stake, and you inadvertently impregnated a young woman, who refused to abort … what would you do?”
    Gary thought about the rich man’s dilemma with poise.
    “Inadvertently, huh?” he repeated.
    “Accidents
do
happen, even to wealthy people,” Jonah said firmly.
    Gary shrugged, unconcerned. “He should have never been with a young woman, especially a teenager. I’m sorry, but I have no sympathy for that.”
    Jonah nodded. “Indeed, I see your point.”
    With no argument from her, Gary didn’t know what else to say.
    Jonah eyed him and smiled. “I’ve noticed that you have a way with young women yourself. Are you planning on getting married anytime soon? I imagine there would be plenty of young women dying to hold on to a handsome young man like you, including Melissa. Right? And I bet you wouldn’t wanna do
her
wrong,” she added.
    That assertion forced Gary to contemplate. He was obviously not the only master of sarcasm in the room. But as the receiver of the jest, the bite was no longer amusing to him. It hurt. Gary suddenly felt like the pandered product of a rich man’s indiscretion. “Like father, like son” was right. He just hadn’t sired any kids yet.
    Gary remained speechless as he contemplated the reality of his life.
    “Now understand your father’s predicament,” Jonah tacked on. “So what would
you
do?” she repeated.
    Gary broke from his angered haze, but he still had no answer. He didn’t need to answer the question. It was obvious that a rich man would do whatever was necessary to protect his wealth, his family, and his public reputation.
    “So, what is he, a big-time investor, a corporate CEO, or what?” Gary asked instead.
    Jonah leaned back in her chair. “We can discuss that once he trusts you more.”
    Gary smiled again. “Okay, so … he doesn’t trust me now?”
    She said, “Of course not. He doesn’t really know you yet or not as an adult. And that getting-to-know-you relationship begins now. But he did learn to trust your mother. So if you prove to be as agreeable as she was, then those