Bound To Fall

Clean Up Your Damn Mess

Sterling

I tried to call her, I wanted to clear things up but she dodged me. I took that as my hint that my father was right, now wasn't a good time. So I came back to my parent's mansion and cleaned up before sleeping in my old room, my father decided it would be best so I wasn't alone to deal with the thoughts plaguing my mind.

A knock on the door pulled me out of my thoughts. I glanced up from where I sat in the bed, already dressed because I knew it was a matter of time before my father called for me. There were some things he wanted to discuss before he'd let me leave the mansion.

"Sterling." My mother's voice came from the otherside. "Your father wants you in the study as soon as possible."

Getting up from the bed, I walked over to the door and opened it up. "I'm coming."

I left the room and made my way down the stairs. Turning to go down the hallway, I headed right for the room he was patiently sitting in. I opened the door and closed it, this is a conversation he wanted to have only between the two of us.

"Sit." He ordered as he motioned to the chair in front of him.

Without a word, I sat as directed. His icy blue eyes looked me over, for the first time in a while I picked up on a look of concern from him.

"We need to talk about last night." He finally spoke, getting us on the topic at hand.

I nodded in response. "I know, all I want to say is I'm not sorry—"

"I don't want you to be." He cut me off. "Sterling, when Killian called me I could have intervened then but I wanted to see what you had in you. I'm proud of the way you handled things, you did what I would've done."

"Then why did you stop me?" I questioned him curiously.

"Because I know what it's like to carry the burden of someone's death on your shoulders." He explained. "You're just starting out in these types of things, I don't want you to get in over your head. It's a lot to take on mentally and you have to be prepared, you also need to thoroughly know about how to clean up these messes so that we don't jeopardize our family."

"Understood." It made sense, I had been so fueled by my anger that to be honest I had no clean up plan if it had been needed.

My father got up from his chair. "The Tunts are gone, I saw to it that they left immediately. They should be a threat no more, but we're keeping tabs on them until we're certain they'll behave... if not then we'll discard them properly."

"Can I be let it on this?" He had taken over, any control I had felt like it had been taken from me.

"Not now." He shook his head. "Right now you have something more important at stake, you need to contact Isabelle and see if she'll meet you. Once that's settled we'll come back here and I'll brief you on everything, you will be the one watching over the Tunts and I'll only be here if you need me."

"Okay." I nodded.

"Get out of here." My father looked at me with a soft expression. "You don't have much time so I refuse to waste it on the Tunts. They've taken enough from you already."

I got up from the chair and left the study. Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I dialed Isabelle as I head for the living room. It rang but she didn't answer. I called her again and still I didn't get an answer.

"What's the matter?" My mother asked as I sat down on the couch.

I can help the feeling of defeat that was taking over. She won't answer my calls, how am I supposed to fix this?

"She won't pick up the phone." My voice cracked. "I really fucked up this time mom, I don't know if there's anyway of actually getting her back."

"Maybe you should go to her." My mother suggested. "It'll be like a grand gesture, maybe it'll even give you some brownie points with her."

"I doubt it." I shook my head as I glanced at the ground. "Isabelle is stubborn, when her mind is made up there's really no stopping here. If she refuses my phone calls then she probably will refuse to even look at me."

I can't force her to see me. I can't try and force her to forgive me for my actions. She's hurt and I'm the cause for it yet again.

"You won't know unless you try." My mother sat up and placed a hand on my back. "She's not gone yet, you still have time."

I exhaled a low sigh. "Maybe."

"Are you fucking kidding me right now?!" Scarlett's voice echoed as she came down the stairs and into the living room, by her face I could tell she was angry.

"Scarlett." My mother warned.

"No mom." Scarlett looked me in the eyes. "You're really just going to roll over and take this? You just got your balls back, don't lose them now!"

I waited for my mother to cut in, but she didn't. Instead she looked at Scarlett curiously, obviously she wanted to see where she was going with this.

"I don't agree with you hiding things from her, but you did what you felt you had to do to protect her." Scarlett continued on as she looked at me intensely. "You and Isabelle deserve a real chance without some cunt and her family getting in the way Sterling, shame on you for giving up on the love of your life so easily!"

"And what do you expect me to do?" It was easy for her to insert herself, she was just a bystander and not actually involved in the situation.

"Dad has always told us, even when we were little, that when we make a mess we need to clean it up." Scarlett folded her arms across her chest. "It's time for you to go clean up your damn mess!"

"It's too late." At least it feels that way.

"No." My mother's voice caught my attention. "Scar's right Sterling you need to clean this up, it's not too late until she's on that plane. Which means you need to get on it."

I took in a deep breath and exhaled it. "Okay"

I got up from the couch and headed towards the front door of the mansion. I could feel the determination within me begin to grow. My mother's right, it's not too late and Scarlett was right to call me out for giving up.

I had just gotten used to being defeated before, but this is different. I need to go after her because then I can at least say I tried.

Besides I'm Sterling fucking Tipton, I can do this. I know I can.