68-15 seconds

Dad looked at mom and then Francis. He then looked at me. For a few seconds. I thought he was about to ignore Francis and start asking about Yoké again but he didn’t.

“A mother is a mother.” He said, and then turned to Francis. “It’s your right. But you’re a smart man: you know how highly I value our reputation. You know how much of a role it plays in our company, for our contracts, in getting and keeping clients. You know very well. So I know you know what that means: same applies to you like I told Gen and Alice, as long as the world outside doesn’t know. These servants signed a very serious confidentiality contract, they know if they just as much as say our name to other people, they’ll be in very serious trouble. The only ones that have the ball in this are you guys, the children of this family. Your mom and I would never. We’ve plus minus 26 years of practice.”

Francis n