this chapter is beta'd by katbookworm, thanks so much!

Chapter Nine

Neal was pulled out of the darkness roughly, as his captor dragged him from the closet by a very tight grip on his hair. He sprawled on the grimy floor where he was dumped. He tried to control the pain that flowed through his body, the worst was his feet. They throbbed like no other. Someone cleared their throat and he froze when he recognized the sound. He raised his head slowly, partly to keep the dizziness at bay, partly because he didn't want to meet the bastard's eyes if it was him... because now he knew without a doubt who the boss was.

"Cooper"

Neal looked at the man in resignation.

"Dad"

He steeled himself for the coming conversation as best as he could. He knew it wasn't going to be pleasant. Neal warily watched his father as the man circled him, sizing him up before returning to stand in front of him. He stared at his son for a moment before backhanding him. Neal's head snapped to the side as pain seared from his jaw down into his neck. He swayed on his feet and he feared he would go down but he refused to show weakness in front of his father. He took a deep breath to steady himself. He had to, otherwise his father would tear into him like he used to, tear him down to that sniveling weak pretty boy that used to cower before him. He can't think like that... He is Neal Caffery, a great, no, the greatest conman and forger. This man in front of him is not his father, hasn't been his father since high school.

"You were supposed to stay away and never show your face in this town again. You were never to have any contact with Blaine but here you are." His father spat at him and struck him in the face. He could feel the hatred boiling out of the man. Tears welled up but he struggled to hold them back.

"How dare you come back here? How dare you take my son away from me?" His father punctuated each sentence with a punch to Neal's face. How much he hated that face. Mr. Anderson was a hard, strict and very opinionated man. When Cooper was a little boy, he was brought up right, went to church, hung around the right people.

His son was better than any other, less than rich heathens. Not his son! He was to be groomed in his father's image and one day he was to became partner to the most prestigious company this world has ever seen. But something happened when he turned fourteen. He became rebellious, talking back to both his mother and father, broke the rules. His grades started to fall and he quit the Lacrosse team. Anderson pinpointed the day that started it all. Cooper stayed after school for Lacrosse practice. He was to meet his father out front of the school, showered and dressed for an important dinner later that evening. But he was late so Mr. Anderson went looking for his wayward son.

As he entered the boy's locker room, he became uneasy. Something seemed out of place. Cautiously he moved through the eerie empty locker room. Then he heard a scuffling sound near the back of the room. He heard murmuring as he grew closer. What he saw shamed him to his core. He found his son up against the wall, his hands on the student coach's chest, kissing him. He remembered how he grabbed his son, yanking him out of the locker room into the limo without a sound. He remembered how Cooper curled up in the corner of the backseat to get away from the wall of rage that was his father and he had felt powerful, almost giddy when his own son cowered before him.

Now as he stared down at his eldest son, he realized he'd actually missed the distasteful wretch in front of him. Or maybe what he missed was the power he had over Cooper. Once Cooper was run out of town he had turned his attention to his youngest son and vowed that Blaine would be under his control and no way would a son of his be one of those....things.

"What did I do to offend you dad? Neal asked through split lips. The cut burned and bled as he spoke. "Why do you hate me so much?"

Anderson's gaze narrowed on the beaten man in front of him and his anger grew as the thing that was his son spoke. Neal watched the hatred and disgust reached a higher level and he started to fear for his life.

"You chose to be that way, lying with another man. It's filthy and unholy." His father spat at him. "You're a disgrace; you humiliated me in front of my family and friends. Your mother never knew, I never told her, she believes you ran away. But the worst part is the influence you have over Blaine. I could not let you taint the young and impressionable boy who looked up to you. But I was too late; you had already infected him, like you did that promising young coach."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Neal shouted out. He shrank back when his father leaned into his space, inches from his face.

"You turned your brother into a faggot." His father bellowed. Neal cringed at that word and the force it was said with. He had endured the name calling and such that his father threw at him back then, endured the so called healing camps that just loved to torture the gayness out of kids, but he never got used to the loveless relationship between them. If he went through that, what did Blaine have to go through? He wanted to apologize to his brother for leaving him all those years ago and for getting him killed. A wave of grief washed over him and tears welled up to run down his face. His head rocked to the side as his attention was brought back to his father.

"You are so weak... I can't believe you were ever my son. Weak, pathetic and disgusting." His father said. Neal couldn't believe his father.

"Dad, I am not, nor have I ever been, gay." Neal replied. His entire body trembled, not only with the physical pain but the emotional pain. His father stared at him.

"Well of course you are. I caught you red handed."

Neal shook his head. "I was not making out with the student coach Dad, it wasn't consensual." He said sadly.

"What are you talking about?"

"He molested me" he whispered. The words bringing back memories he didn't want to relive. His father stood there, still with a look of disgust on his face. He leaned forward and slapped his son across the face again.

"How dare you lie to me? You seduced that man right into your bed. You are disgusting."

His father really needed to think of another word to describe him. They were distracted by the sound of a car pulling up to the building.

"You nearly ruined that man's reputation, that man's life and you're still determined to ruin his life aren't you?"

Neal looked at his father in disbelief.

"Well, that doesn't matter now. In just a few minutes you will no longer be my problem." His father sneered at him. Neal swallowed; never had he needed a timely rescue by Peter more than he did right then. He felt dread and sorrow deep in his bones that he was not going to get that rescue and most likely he would never see the Burkes again. They both turned toward the door on the other side of the abandoned building as it opened. Trepidation swarmed him as a figure approached them.

It wasn't until the man stepped up into the light that Neal recognized this man. Although it had been almost a decade since he'd seen him, he would never forget that voice.

"Hello Cooper"

Neal's body tensed up to the point of pain. Then he shook his head.

No no no no no no

He was freaking out. It couldn't be. But he remembered that sickly sweet voice from his nightmares. The man stopped just in front of him, reached up to lightly run his fingers through Neal's hair, grabbed a knot of it and yanked his head back. He leaned in, stared intently into his eyes smiling a truly evil smile before cruelly kissing him. Neal wanted to vomit, he struggled and brought his knee up but it was blocked. Someone, not his father, grabbed his arms tightly behind his back. He knew he couldn't con his way out of this and his heart sank at the thought of being in the presence of his childhood tormentor. Memories of the student coach flew through his mind, taking him back to the last time he had seen his molester and making him re-live the terror of his sixteen year old self.

After everything he has been through today, the emotional reunion with his brother, running from the goons, the wreck, Blaine's death and now this? His mind and body began to shut down and he sank down willingly into the darkness.