Beast Control (The Crossroads Series Book 5) by Stephen King

Author:Stephen King
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2015-05-08T07:00:00+00:00

Deadly Ride

There were a dozen men and women behind the tall oaken doors that led to the board room, and in a few minutes each of them would want Carson Phillips dead. As he waited for Tim to finish the initial briefing, however, a recently downsized employee with a nine millimeter pistol was far from his foremost concern; it was the 45-pound girl on the other end of his video call.

“You said you were coming home after you went to work,” Claire mumbled. Her face was downcast, and the thick brown hair she inherited from Carson hung in her eyes. She would not look at the screen, and somehow this behavior – stewing sullenly, not shouting or tantrum-throwing – made him feel worse than anything else would have. “You promised,” Claire said.

He sighed, scanning her tiny, round, rosy face. Kelly was working a few feet behind her, obliviously banging kitchen pots around. She was doubtlessly planning an elaborate dinner. He could sense the guilt galloping toward him; Kelly would make him feel terrible for not appreciating the plans she had made, and his daughter would shame him for abandoning her to fly to San Francisco to finalize the merger. Personally and professional, he was the asshole.

“I know, sweetheart, and when I get back, I’m going to make it up to you a thousand times,” he said. She didn’t respond. This was Carson’s cue to bring out the big guns. “We can go to Six Flags next week,” he offered, his tone rising hopefully.

She peered at him suspiciously through her curtain of hair. “Do you promise? If you promise about Six Flags roller coasters you can’t take back that promise,” she said, solemnly. There was nothing more sacred to Carson’s daughter than rides that flipped her upside down at impossibly dangerous speeds.

He held his hand up in the air. “Scout’s honor, pinky swear.”

Claire poked the screen with her pinky finger. “Pinkies.”

He put his pinky up. “Pinkies,” he said.

Claire turned in her seat and shouted triumphantly. “Mom, we’re going to Six Flags!”

Kelly walked around the kitchen counter, and ruffled Claire’s hair, kneeling at her side. “That’s great, baby. Why don’t you go in the bathroom and wash up.”

“Okay,” Claire said. “Bye, Daddy.”

“Goodbye, sweetheart. I’ll see you very soon,” he said. The smile disappeared from Kelly’s face when their daughter had left the room.

“Six Flags? That seems – wait,” she said. She sighed. “You’re not coming home yet.”

“There were last minute changes, honey. I have to fly back to hammer some things out with corporate on compensation,” he said.

He waited for an explosion of tears or angry words delivered through clenched teeth. But Kelly smoothed her hair behind her ears and exhaled, so that for a moment she looked like the girl he’d met decades ago.

“I’m disappointed, but I understand. You’re the president of the company, and you need to be there to see this through.” She smiled supportively, and for a moment he shocked himself with a strong urge to reach through the screen and embrace her.

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