Chapter 144

Who could be calling him at this time? Steven thought as he yanked the errant cell phone from his breast pocket. He was about to toss the cell away without looking at it when his eyes caught his caller ID. It was his father. Marie looked just as livid as Steven but withdrew far enough to give him privacy to answer the call. A part of him wanted to ignore the call, and then text his father later.

Steven doubted that anything the old man had to say was important, but Marie had already retreated to the far corner of the room and was texting. Besides, the last thing he wanted was the unease from wondering his father's reason for calling this time. Steven wasn't optimistic enough to believe that his father had remembered his birthday, after all.

“Hey Son. Long time no speak.” William King's voice boomed over the phone.

And whose fault was that, he thought but thought better of speaking it out.

“Yes, Sir.”

“You can't afford to forget your old man, Steven. We're all we’ve got. You and me. We