RICHKIDS

＂ Ｈｉｇｈ Ｈｅｅｌ Ｌｏｕｉｓ Ｖｕｉｔｔｏｎｓ ＂

Matthew Felix paced angrily across the wooden pine oak floors of the downstairs living room. His hands were firmly behind his back as if he were an escort but the scowl on his face said otherwise. The two police officers who had answered the complaint stood awkwardly in the doorway, fidgeting with their hats and collars. Their behavior was expected as they were in one of the most wealthiest homes in Beverly Hills.

Erika was standing by the stairs, her auburn hair swept in a bun, wearing just a tight - fitted white t-shirt and Victoria's Secret PINK pajama pants. Damon could tell she was amused with the whole spectacle by the rueful smile on her face.

He rolled his eyes. Of course Erika was enjoying all of this. The one thing she loved more than maxing out their father's credit cards was watching Damon - or anyone else for that matter - suffer.

After minutes of walking back and forth, Matthew turned to the two young officers who straightened up in posture. "I'll pay off the ticket," and then his voice lowered. "And I'll pay even more to make sure this doesn't go anywhere else." Damon knew what that meant ; How much does it cost to wipe this off  the records?

The officers both looked at each other, astonished. Then one of them spoke. "Uh, sir, I don't know about-"

Matthew pulled out 10 grand from his suit pocket and shoved it at the officer. "Will that cover everything?"

The officers were nowhere near protesting when the cash came out.

Minutes later, Damon was watching the cop car roll out of their circular driveway, their lights flashing through the posh neighborhood. He was almost disgusted at how corrupt these cops were but then reminded himself that was a good thing - for his sake.

"Gosh, Daddy, Damon is so lucky you're smart," Erika said in her sugar sweet voice that only Damon could see through. "Without you, he'd probably be on some dingy episode of Beyond Scared Straight."

"Shut up, Erika." He moved away from the window he'd been looking through to see that familiar, pestering smirk of hers. The smirk that said, 'I'm behind it all'.

It only took Damon seconds to put the pieces together. "You stupid bitch!"

Erika grinned triumphantly although the smile was quickly wiped off her face under the glare of their father.

Matthew only crossed his arms, teeth gritted together. "You have disgraced me again."

"I didn't do anything, Daddy," Erika said loudly. "I understand how important your reputation is - unlike Damon." She shot him a spiteful look.

Damon couldn't believe what he was hearing. The girl practically went shoplifting at Barneys just a week ago and here she was acting like a precious angel. Damon was done playing their short-lived game of 'Who can catch who'. He was ready to win. 

"You wanna know what happened on one of Erika's shopping sprees, Dad?" He spat, shooting Erika a glare. Her eyes were moving wildly around the room, obviously trying to come up with a plan to stop him.

"Daddy, he's lost it," Erika managed. "I think he needs to go to rehab or something."

"Dad!" Damon shouted over her voice, looking towards his father who was still planted in the middle of the room.

Matthew Felix was glaring past them both, his eyes locked on the large mosaic art just above the staircase. Damon followed his father's gaze to the painting of his mother and grimaced. He liked to pretend that picture wasn't there.

Damon took a step towards his father although his movement was wary. "Dad, I haven't embarrassed you. There's way more talk going on about Erika's-"