Halfway to the Truth by Anthony Mays

this place. I’ll give him credit for having good taste.”
    He grabbed Reese’s hand and helped her out of the Corvette.
    She accompanied him up the stairs and tried to regain her composure, that is, until she stepped inside the entrance hallway.
    “I’m sorry for staring,” she said, “but I have never seen anything like this. It’s like going into a museum.”
    Viktor’s manservant arrived to meet them. “Your father is waiting in the drawing room sir. Dinner will be in a half-hour.”
    Nikolaus escorted Reese down the hall and turned into a room on the left. An older gentleman was sitting with a book in hand which he promptly put down and rose to greet them.
    “Father, this is Reese Summers. Reese this is my father, Viktor Drakos.”
    His father grabbed the hand that Reese extended and kissed the back of it making Nikolaus bristle.
    “Come,” he said, indicating toward a sofa, “sit down and tell me about yourself. My son hasn’t told me anything other than that you work for the Savannah Daily . By the way, that was a very nice story you did on our longshoremen. You really were able to capture the essence of the hard work that goes into moving goods into and out of our port on a daily basis. Was that story your idea?”
    “No sir, it was my editor’s,” she replied. “Doug Williams. I think you know him.”
    “Oh yes, we go back quite a ways. Has he talked to you about me?”
    “Not in so many words. If you’ll forgive me, I don’t think he likes you.”
    Nikolaus headed to a bar across the room. “Anyone want a drink?” he asked over his shoulder as he helped himself to an expensive Scotch.
    Both his father and Reese ignored him.
    “No, Miss Summers he doesn’t, but I appreciate your bluntness. Mr. Williams has changed since we were younger. He thinks he has to tear me down for some reason and uses that newspaper to do it. Over the years I’ve given him plenty of good writing material.”
    Reese’s face sported a puzzled look as Viktor had hoped.
    “You see, in the shipping business there are a lot of rules and regulations. I’ve often had to deal with litigation regarding personal injury either by dockworkers or merchant seamen. But when you have as many employees as I do, that are performing dangerous work assignments, you’re bound to have some issues. Mr. Williams has mostly seen fit to publish only the negative side of my business whenever he could. Your article was the first in a long time that was positive in nature and I appreciate it. That’s why I’m surprised it was his idea. But you did all the leg work on it and that’s what counts.”
    Reese decided to push the conversation further. “Why do you think he has this vendetta against you? You were close friends at one time weren’t you?”
    Nikolaus had been left out of the conversation long enough. With the Scotch giving him some backbone he entered the discussion answering her question before his father. “Because he’s ruthless and he’ll squash anyone who gets in his way. Right father? Isn’t that one of your many qualities?”
    Reese was taken aback by the affront Nikolaus gave his father in his own house. But she was even more surprised by Viktor’s reaction.
    Viktor was actually glad that Nikolaus helped deflect him from having to provide his own answers to her question. “See, even my own son has misgivings about me,” he said. “So it’s not much of a stretch to see why others, including Mr. Williams, may think the worst of me. You can’t build a business like Drakos Shipping without having stepped on some toes. Admittedly, I’ve done that and more. But now that I’m at the top of the game and getting older, I want to change. I don’t want to be remembered for being the asshole I was while climbing to the top. And, I think you can help me with that Miss Summers.”
    “Me? What can I do?”
    The manservant entered the room and announced dinner.
    “Let’s talk about that over a good meal,” he suggested