Personal Possessions by Tracy Lee Read Free Book Online Page A

a woman that repulsed him most of his life. He
continually wished I had never been born, and was not shy of
letting this be known.
    Grabbing my briefcase, I
got out of the car and set the alarm. “Now let’s see how much you
regret me,” I said as I headed into the building.
    Entering the door, I
thought maybe a secretary would greet me but no one was sitting at
the desk. Continuing deeper into the building, I heard the voices
of old southern men chattering on about whose golf game reigned
supreme.
    That was one thing I did
miss about the south, the long, drawn out southern accent was so
unlike what I had become accustomed to, living in Boston. My
southern drawl had diminished from living up north. I was even told
once and a while by others, that they could hear a slight Boston
inflection in my voice.
    The soft sound of Karen
Carpenter singing “Close to You” hummed over ceiling speakers. I
wasn’t really paying attention, but I could subconsciously hear it.
My heart was pounding with the beat of the music but louder,
roaring with power and determination.
    This was the final battle,
and I was taking down the beast. This time, he wasn’t the one who
was demanding, he was the one being demanded, by me. As soon as I
turned the corner, walking into that conference room, the eyes of
twelve older gentlemen turned my way, but only one voice was
heard.
    “Well, I’ll be
goddamned!”
    I walked to the head of
the table, pulling back the chair to take a seat. I always sat at
the head of the table, I really didn’t give a shit who thought they
belonged there, I wanted to exude power. Authority. This was my
meeting, and shit wasn’t going to happen unless I said it would. I
laid my briefcase on the table and decided this would be a good
time to acknowledge the others, I think I had proved my point that
I would be doing the talking in this get together.
    “Gentlemen,” I said to the
room with a nod of my head, and then immediately sat down and
opened my case up. This little peaceful gathering was not going to
last long.
    “This is horseshit!” my
father exclaimed.
    “ Tripp!” I heard from one
of the men beside him, obviously, he must’ve been one of my
father’s partners. These men still had no idea who I
was.
    My dad’s name was Orville
Henry McHale III. Since he was the third generation, he got stuck
with the nickname, Tripp, for triple. That’s what he was known as,
I’m not even sure many even knew he had another name other than,
Tripp.
    Clearing my throat, I gave
my dad a nice long stare as I began to announce myself.
    “ Gentlemen, I’d like to
introduce myself. My name is, Trevor McHale. I am CEO and
co-founder of The Mac-Gentry Firm.”
    My eyes never left my
father. I could see out of the corner them though, the heads of the
other men beginning to turn towards each other as soft murmurs
filled the room.
    “Our main offices, as most
of you know, are based in Boston, but I own several hundred
companies nationally.” Looking down at my watch, and glancing back
towards my father, I continued “…and in just a few, I will be
including this company to my list as well.”
    As I took a seat, I saw my
father stand up.
    “I’ll be damned if I sign
anything over to you. You don’t deserve a damn thing.” Balling up
his fist, he struck the table.
    My eyes slowly went up to
meet his.
    “Your choice on what
happens with this company has been null and void for several years,
Mr…”
    I couldn’t even bring
myself to say my last name when my eyes were locked with his. But
then I didn’t need to because he cut me off from any further
discussion.
    “I’m pulling out of this
deal now, Marshall!”
    He threw his seat back,
and began to stomp out of the office when the man on the other side
of him, who I take as being Marshall, decided to inform him of the
facts.
    “Tripp, sit
down!”
    My father stopped right
where he was. Spinning around, his face was beat red. He knew he
had nothing else in his corner to arm