HUGE HOUSE HATES: AN ENEMIES TO LOVERS REVERSE HAREM ROMANCE (HUGE Series)

“I gave you one job,” Dad yells down the phone. “One job. To make your stepsister feel welcome. And what do I find out from your Uncle Morris? That you’re having a relationship with her…a sexual relationship…all of you.”

The fury in his voice is palpable, and I take a step back until I’m leaning against the countertop.

I knew this phone call was coming. Danny’s already had the same talking-to, and so has Alden. I guess he’s going in alphabetical order on his phone contacts list.

“Dad. We are taking care of her, and to be frank, what we do in our private lives isn’t any of your business.”

“None of my business. This is my fiancée’s daughter, not a random girl off the street. You seriously couldn’t find anyone else to get your rocks off with?”

“It’s not like that, Dad,” I say. “It isn’t just about sex. We like Cora. Really like her.”

“You like her?” His tone is derisive.

“It’s more than just like,” I say, the word love tickling the end of my tongue but not quite forming to say out loud. I don’t want my dad to be the first one who hears that I love Cora. That’s something I need to save for her.

“You don’t know what you want,” he spits. “None of you do. I coddled you too much after your mom died and now look what’s happened. This is the first girl you share a space with, and you’re all fawning over her like brainless idiots.”

“Dad,” I say, the warning tone now evident in my voice. “The way you’re talking to me isn’t respectful. I’m a grown man, not a prepubescent kid. And I know my own mind.”

“What do you know? Do you really think that girl wants you and your brothers? Do you seriously think she wants all of you? And this has nothing to do with money at all?”

“What?” I pull the phone from my ear for a second, staring at the screen as though I’m going to see something there that will enlighten me about the crazy words that are currently spilling from my father’s mouth.

“Money, Mark. She’s trying to get back the money her father lost when his business went under. She’s taken her time over the revenge, that’s for sure. But her motivation is clear. You’re fools not to see what she’s up to. And I’m telling you this right now. There is no way in hell that girl is going to be in your life anymore. This is over. Right now. You call her and tell her that she’s not allowed back into my house. I’ve told her mom that she’ll have to stay with friends.”

“No way,” I say. “You’re so wrong about Cora. It’s actually fucking laughable.”

“Don’t you…”

“Swear?” I spit. “So it’s okay for you to say terrible things about the woman I…” It almost comes out, but I bite my tongue again. “But not okay for me to use a curse word. Do you hear yourself, Dad? You know nothing about Cora. Nothing at all. I’ve never met a less money-oriented person in my life. She doesn’t care about the things you hold as so important. In a million years, she wouldn’t ruin someone else’s business to make a profit. She’s a decent person. But I’m not sure you’d know one of those if they were standing directly in front of you.”

“Mark…”

“Don’t Mark me, Dad. You want to judge Cora by your own standards. That’s the trouble, isn’t it? Once you’ve stabbed someone in the back, the idea that someone could do it to you becomes so much more possible. Does it plague you, the idea that you’ll lose what you took from someone else?”

“All’s fair in business, Mark,” he says with a smile audible in his voice. “Little fish get eaten by big sharks. That’s the way of the world, and if you think anything else, you’re naïve.”

“I’m not naïve. I know what goes on out there. I witness it every day through my job, but that doesn’t mean that I have to like it, and it doesn’t mean I have to be happy that it’s something you did to Cora’s family.”

“You’ve enjoyed the money, Mark. You’ve enjoyed the house, the money has paid for, and the education it afforded you. You can be righteous, but you’ve benefited immensely from the fact that I’m not afraid to do what needs to be done.”

“Well, now I’m not afraid to do what needs to be done, either. We care for Cora, and we’re not going to let you order us around, okay?”

“Well, maybe I need to make your lives difficult then. Maybe it’s time that you all feel what the world would be like when you don’t have a father like me.”

“Maybe,” I say. “Maybe it’s time for us to stand on our own two feet.”

Dad is quiet for a second, as though my agreement has shocked his argument right out of his brain. Does he not realize that between me, Alden, and Danny, we earn more than enough to go it alone even if we need to carry Tobias and River for a couple of years?

“You want to go it alone?”

“Sure. Why not? It’s about time, isn’t it, Dad? We can’t live at home forever.”

“Well, if that’s what you want, I’ll send a Realtor around later. They can list the house. It’s not like I need it anymore.”

“Exactly,” I say. “Perfect.”

“You think you know everything about the world,” Dad says, and I can imagine the sneering look he has on his face. “You think you know what you’d do if you lost your wife and had five boys to raise by yourself. You have no idea what you’d be capable of, Mark. I’m not ashamed of doing what needed to be done to ensure you got the best of everything, and you shouldn’t be either. If I had to choose between being a shark and being a minnow, I’d choose shark again in a blink.”

When he hangs up, the hand holding my phone drops to my side, and I let a long breath slowly leave my lips.

Is he right? Would I do the same thing in his situation?

I try to imagine having five children with Cora and then losing her when they’re too small to take care of themselves. What would I do to be a good father? In my heart, I know I’d do whatever it would take to keep my family safe.

I’m not that different to my father, but maybe I’d have some regrets for the result of my actions. Maybe I wouldn’t be as righteous as he is. Maybe that’s the difference.

My phone rings again, and for a second, I think it’s Dad calling me back to restart the argument, but it’s not. It’s Naomi, Cora’s friend.

“Hey Naomi,” I say. “What’s up?”

“Have you seen Cora?” she asks. “She never showed up at the studio, and I thought it might be because she turned around and went home to discuss the article with you guys.”

“She didn’t come home,” I say. “We’ve been trying to get hold of her, but we thought she was busy working. We were waiting for her to get back.”

“Then she’s missing,” Naomi says. “She didn’t come here.”

“And no one saw her come home.”

“Shit,” Naomi says. “We need to start calling around.”

“Calling around to who? We need to call the police if she’s missing.”

“Just give me a second, okay? I’ll call you back if I hear anything.”

As I’m waiting for Naomi to call me back, I stride up to Cora’s room to see if anything is out of place. She gave up locking the door after things between us went from frost to fire, so I don’t need to hunt Ross down for a key.

Her room smells as sweet as always, and everything is still in its place. It looks as though she got ready this morning and left, expecting to return after a day at her studio. There is certainly no evidence that she’s moved out. I lean against the doorway for a moment and shake my head. I know she’s probably mad about the article. The old Cora would have gone off the rails about it, but now she knows how we feel about her…well, I hope that’ll make the difference. Alden would never say something like that about her. She must know he wouldn’t. This isn’t something she needs to face alone. This is something we can deal with together.

As I jog down the stairs, I glance around at the house that has been our home for so long. Our family history is here, all the good and the bad. And it’s been mostly good. We’ve been as happy as we could be without Mom in our lives. Everything has always come easy.

As I pass a family photo – just Dad and us boys in height order – I think about what he said. He did what he had to do to provide for us. Would I rather it hadn’t involved ruthless business practices that caused the collapse of Cora’s father’s company? Of course, I would. But do I think my dad is a terrible person for being shrewd when he was under so much pressure?

It’s just not that cut and dried.

He could certainly have a better attitude about it now. Maybe that’s what’s grating at me so much. The fact that he just can’t admit that what he did has had a negative impact on someone else’s family. Like a stone dropped into a lake, all our decisions create ripples in the lives of others.

I don’t want to create negative ripples, but the work I do probably does. It’s impossible to labor within the system and not. My job helps rich company owners find ways to pay less tax and make more profit. Danny’s helps huge fashion brands sell more clothes and contributes to people feeling bad about themselves. Tobias and River aren’t working yet so their consciences are clear, I suppose. And maybe Alden too. I can’t imagine what negative impact Alden’s art has. Maybe when he heats the metal, he releases greenhouse gasses. I don’t know. None of us is an island.

All I mean is that I can’t judge my father too harshly, even as I understand and empathize with Cora’s anger and pain.

The phone rings again as I reach the bottom step.

“Naomi?”

“She’s at Maggie’s,” Naomi says. “I didn’t speak to her, but Maggie said that Alden’s quote in the article and Kyle’s presence at your house has upset Cora. She doesn’t want to come back.”

“Kyle? Kyle wasn’t here.”

“He was. When Cora came back to talk to you guys about the article, he was there. She left before he saw her. She was frightened.”

“Fuck,” I mutter, shaking my head.

“I don’t know what to say.” Naomi clears her throat. “Cora has trust issues the size of the Grand Canyon. And you guys are stumbling into them and proving her right. Is she right?”

“NO!” I blurt. “Of course, she isn’t right. We love her.”

“You do?” Naomi says, and I swear I can hear a smile in her voice. “Then you need to make all of this right, Mark. Seriously. My friend deserves better.”

“I know. Naomi. And thanks for letting me know. I’ll talk with my brothers and work out what to do next. All you need to know is that we’ll do right by her.”

“Good luck,” she says before hanging up.

I take a seat on the bottom step, pulling up a photograph on my phone that we took one night when we were all hanging out in the den. Cora’s in the center of the couch, flanked by Tobias and River on one side, and me, Alden, and Danny on the other. She has her arms around us and the broadest smile on her pretty face. We all look ridiculously happy, and it makes my throat feel thick and achy.

We can get back to that, I think. We have to get back to that.

We have a lot to do to get there, though.

I don’t know what Kyle was doing here – if indeed he was here – but I need to find out.

We need to prove that we’re trustworthy and put her first.

We need to show her we love her, and we’ll fight for her.

And now we need to find a new place to live before Dad sells the house from under us.