Sterling
I followed my father as Davis led the way up to my grandfather's study. I'm not sure exactly how this was all going to go, but it sounded like I was going to learn some things. Just this time it would be about my grandfather.
Opening the door, Davis let us inside and closed it to give the three of us some privacy. My grandfather was already seated at his desk and waiting for us. My father and I both took a seat in front of him and I waited patiently for them to get this conversation started.
"Sterling." It was my grandfather who was the first to speak. "It's come to my attention that you're heading into the darker side of the business we deal with."
"I guess you could say that." I shrugged as I responded to him.
He studied me for a moment, then he decided to begin questioning me about my actions. "What exactly were you planning to do if you had really needed to kill one of them? How would you have cleaned up your mess?"
"I don't know." I honestly confessed.
As much as I hate admitting it, I probably would have called my father myself at that point. It's part of the reason I let it go that Killian called him beforehand. He just got him there before I went too far.
"That's what I thought." My grandfather responded as he grabbed a bottle of liquor from his desk and filled his glass, taking a sip before going on. "We have measures for these types of things, measures I had to come up with when I was your age and getting into this."
I'm still surprised to find out that he's played a role in something like what my father's done. My grandfather has always been a kind hearted man, hearing anything about a dark side is practically unheard of to the media.
"When I started Tipton Enterprises, I noticed the more I got successful the more I had people attempting to come after me." He began to explain, taking another sip of the alcohol in his glass. "Shortly after Ava was born there were threats being sent towards her and your grandmother by people who thought they could bully me, so I confided in a good friend of mine who grew up in this type of business."
Silence filled the room for a moment as he looked deep in thought. I can tell this conversation is bringing out memories he doesn't necessarily want, but he feels the need to relive them so I can understand what to do going forward.
"The friend of mine informed me of how he learned shady business and blackmailers get handled." My grandfather finally continued. "He told me about his family having a place where they take people to teach them a lesson. I thought it wasn't the way to go about things at first, I wanted to keep my integrity and morals right. Then someone tried to break in and kidnap Ava, that's when I really understood the severity of the situation and I bought the warehouse. It started off with scaring people but all it takes is the one that pushes you too far, like your father I've had to eliminate an enemy completely."
I'm at a loss for words to be honest. I don't know how the hell you respond to your father admitting that he's murdered.
"Mentally, it can be a heavy burden the first time you have to go that route." My grandfather exhaled a low sigh. "I know it was for me, but I did what I had to do to get through it. I realized what I did was to protect my family, just like your father did, and that helped me process it all."
"Tipton Enterprises is still a growing company." My father took over the conversation now. "The Tunt's are only the start, if you have to kill someone Sterling you have to make sure it's because that's the only option that's left. There's nothing wrong with punishing and teaching people a lesson but you have to keep your cool, if you almost kill someone every time you confront them the secrets our family has will be found out quickly and we cannot have that, we will lose everything."
"I understand." I nodded, taking in their words.
"You were bound to have to get into this side, I was just hoping it wouldn't be this soon with your father in charge." A look of concern crossed my grandfather's face. "How are you dealing with it?"
"I'm fine." I answered him. "I've just been mainly focusing on the Isabelle situation, as for the Tunts they got what was coming to them and I don't feel bad for scaring the shit out of them."
"Good." My father spoke, causing me to look over at him. "Let her be your motivation to keep you sane. You'll need that."
"We need to set some rules for you now." My grandfather's voice grabbed my attention back to him. "Your father and I have already discussed this and I need you to follow these before we feel confident enough to let you handle things on your own."
"Okay." He's got my full attention as I'm curious to see what exactly they've decided to lay out for me.
"You need to allow us to know what you're doing." My grandfather's tone turned stern, letting me know this wasn't up for debate. "We need to be aware so one of us can be on standby in case you go too far, I love you but you can be a hot head and act without thinking which is why this is important. You also need to practice a little more self control of your emotions, you can't let these people provoke you when you're the one who's captured them. Understood?"
"Understood." I nodded again, agreeing with the terms being set. "Can I ask something?"
"Of course." My grandfather responded.
"How exactly do you two get away with this stuff?" I look between him and my father. "Even with the punishments, how do you keep someone on your team from saying anything?"
"There's a set of security guards that have lifetime non-disclosure agreements." My father answered this one. "With those and the torture they've seen us do, they keep their mouths shut as they don't want to be on the receiving end of things. We call them the clean up crew, they're the ones you need to have on standby. They've had their fair share of training on how to set things up if needed. It also helps that we have some friends in the police department that don't ask questions if they even sense we're involved."
"So you guys get away with murder because we know people?" I raised a brow as I try to understand all of this correctly.
"Sterling," My father looked at me seriously. "We don't like to abuse the power but when you have money and as much pull in this state as we do, you can practically get away with anything."