I glance at him, the rage that nearly stopped my heart a few minutes ago is still there, but it's a pittance compared to my despair. My heart is shattered.
“You have brought shame on this family. And if I could, I’d send you somewhere so I never had to look at you again.”
I close my eyes to block him out and turn my head to look at the ceiling when I open them again.
“I wish you could, too.” But I know I wouldn’t be so lucky.
“You are a selfish creature. Of your mother’s making.”
“I know.” I admit, quietly.
“Who is he?”
I shake my head. “Nobody.”
I don’t hear him cross the room, but I feel it. I open my eyes just before his hand grasps my chin and squeezes so hard my teeth cut the inside of my mouth. “I knew you’d lie, but I’ll find out. It’s only taken me two hours to find out it’s likely the young man you were cavorting with this summer. I’ll find out who he is.” His eyes bore into mine. “Your ability to continue my bloodline is the only thing you’ve got left that’s worth anything. I want to find the thief who tried to steal my family’s entire future. I want to return the favor.”
He means it. And even though Carter isn’t as helpless as the poor art supply store owner who had the misfortune of hiring me, my father’s vengeance has no qualms and no bounds. Even if he deserves it, I don’t hate him enough to start the fire myself. “What can I do to make this up to you?”
“I thought you’d grown out of this shit. You still haven’t learned that I am your alpha. You have a place in the world because I’ve given it to you. Do you understand that?”
I nod, numb with the onslaught of emotional body blows I’ve endured today. A tear leaks from my eye
He loosens his grip on my face and turns it from side to side, inspecting my jaw before he lets go completely. “You’re lucky I’m announcing my candidacy this weekend. I need you there, smiling and standing up straight. Otherwise, I’d beat you like my Daddy did me. I’ve been too soft with you.”
He steps away from the bed, and I can see him straightening his cuffs and his tie in my periphery as he strolls to the door. “So, here it is. I’ll forget about hunting down your lover man if you agree you won’t ever see him again.”
“I won’t.” It’s the only honest promise I’ll ever make him.
“I will continue to pay your tuition at UT. But you will be home every weekend until you graduate. Upon graduation, you will work for Wolfe, and only Wolfe, until you’re married. Marriage will give you access to your inheritance. Once you have produced two heirs, you’ll be free to go anywhere your heart desires. Just like your mother did. But on your inheritance, you can live even better than she does. I think it’s a very generous offer, considering I have the power to do anything I want. What do you think?”
“Yes, Daddy.”
“If you break your word to me, anyone who has a hand in it will pay. Understood?”
I nod.
“Good.” He walks to the door. “Now, when she comes back in here, you’re going to decline whatever bullshit surgery she was trying to push on you. When the time is right, I’ll find a doctor who knows what he’s talking about.”
He leaves the room without another word. I lie there, staring at the ceiling. My mind is raging.
If I wasn’t sure that meeting Carter was the worst thing to ever happen to me before, I am now.
If I had the power to turn back time, I would erase everything that came after that last night.
Before he made me promises he didn’t even wait a full week to break. If I hadn’t been so completely in love with him, I would have seen it coming. But, as it was, I didn’t. And the message he sent me on the Late Show was a vicious broadside.
It broke my heart, but it was the lack of closure that made it unbearable. What happened to change his mind? Or had the whole thing just been a lie?
These questions have plagued me, kept me up at night. I prayed that one day he’d come to explain, to tell me why he hurt me.