Daniel gave his email one final read, grinning as he did so. His family were going to get the shock of their lives when they realised what he'd done and the consequences of his discovery. He couldn't wait for the shitstorm that was about to follow.
Clicking send, he reclined on his chair. Now to wait. It was 7am in Oyster Creek, which made it 11pm back home in London. If he was lucky, his family would still be awake and hear the beep of their Blackberries. Otherwise, he would not hear from them until the afternoon.
He didn't like waiting. Sucking his teeth, he stood, walking to the bathroom and splashing some water on his face. As he towelled off, he heard a buzz, followed by the familiar jingle of his ringtone.
He grinned, hurrying back out into the main room of his small hotel suite and picking up.
"Hello?"
His grin broadened when he heard a familiar voice at the other end.
"Daniel! What the hell is this shit you've just sent me? What the fuck do you think you're doing?"
"Hello mother," he said in his most-calm voice. "I think I explained everything quite well in the email, personally."
The quality of the call wasn't great, but he was pretty sure he heard her growl. "Well you can explain it again. Right now. What are you playing at?"
"I am merely revealing the truth. I discovered a will whilst I was out here, and it says that the store belongs to the Birch family."
"And how hard did you look for this will? You need to grow up, Daniel, and stop acting like a child. If you want to be let back into this family empire then you need to-"
"Need to what?" he interrupted, a flare of annoyance stabbing through him. His mother always knew how to wind him up. "Firstly, I did not 'look' for the will; I found it in an old drawer of that decrepit old shop you sent me to look after. Secondly, Jenny Birch and her sister Lucy have both worked incredibly hard on that same store and it seems just to me that they are, in fact, it's rightful owners."
"Jenny and Lucy Birch," his mother said sarcastically. "Why am I not surprised? Your dick constantly gets you into trouble, Daniel. You need to stop thinking about getting yourself some pieces of American filth and start thinking about your future."
"I'm sorry?" Dan responded, stunned.
A moment's silence down the other end of the line made Daniel think his mother realised she had gone to far. But there was no such luck. "I said," she growled. "You need to stop thinking about all the little whores you get to fuck by acting like a little prat, and instead-"
"Fuck off." Daniel said it as calmly and dispassionately as he could, though he was aware some of his seething rage had probably leaked into the statement.
The voice at the other end of the phone sounded stunned. A few seconds later, that silence broke with a scream. "WHAT!?"
"I said, 'fuck off'. I mean it. What you can do, mother, is you can fuck off. Don't talk to me like that. Don't talk about people who have more moral integrity than you could possibly muster like that, either. Essentially, dearest mother: fuck off."
Before she could launch into a blistering rage of her own, Daniel heard the phone crackle and then a man's voice was talking down the phone. His father.
"Daniel, I don't know what you just said but your mother looks as if she's going to have an apoplexy. You need to sort this mess out now.
Now
. Tell this Birch family that the store is
not
theirs, and that it belongs to
us
. If there's a legal mess to be had, then you can clean it up. You made it."
Somewhere in the background he could hear his mother wailing. "He told me to fuck off!"
He grinned. "No, I won't. And I've already told mother to fuck off, so I have no problem repeating that to you. Father?"
"Yes?" his father said, clearly annoyed.
"Fuck off."
"That's it!" the old man roared. "I'm booking flights as soon as we're done here.
I
will sort this mess out if you don't have the ability. But know this: if you still defy us when we get out there it will be the final nail in the coffin of your career."
His mother shouted in the background. "They have tickets to get us there on Friday! I'm booking them now. That runt will learn some manners!" She must have run
straight
to the laptop.
"Did you hear that Daniel? We're coming out on Friday. Fix this mess before then, or you'll-"
Dan hung up. He'd heard enough. Slumping down on his bed he collected his thoughts. Friday.
Friday
. That was three days!
Sitting upright he flicked through his phonebook and had soon dialled Jenny. The phone rang four times before she picked up.
"Heya Dan, what's up?" her sweetly soothing voice said.
"I just spoke to my parents."
She paused. "Oh? They called?"
"I guess they felt they had to after that email."
"And?"
He sighed. "Well, firstly let me apologise. I may have kind of kicked the hornet's nest."
"What did you do, Dan?" Jenny said with a slightly exasperated tone. "I knew I shouldn't have let you contact your parents."
"I suppose there's a chance that I might have, well..."
"What?"
"Told them both to fuck off."
Jenny laughed. "That's just great, Dan. I bet they took that
real
well."
"Not so much. Jenny, they're coming over on Friday."