fear on his face. "You're sicker than I thought. I should have known you were the bad apple…”
"And you can't do anything to stop me," I reminded him with pleasure.
"I have to." He seemed determined, but I knew he couldn't do shit to end this. "Does your brother know about this?"
"Kade?" I laughed out loud. "That piece of shit is fucking clueless."
"You're a monster." Dad shook his head in disbelief.
"I know." I grinned. "And I'm going to get my way."
"Not if I have anything to do with it." Dad stared me down. I didn't look away, and the staring contest lasted until he finally sighed and rubbed his temples. "I'm going to send you away."
"Away?"
"A college far away," he muttered. "As far away as I can find."
"I'll be back, though," I reminded him with viciousness. "Any chance I can find, I'll be back."
"I'll tell Rachel."
"And what's she gonna do?" I laughed. "She can't stop me, either."
Dad contemplated my words, seemingly agreeing with me. But when he looked back up at me, he seemed committed. "Then you leave me no fucking choice."
"No?" I grinned, watching him pick up a vase from the console table in the hallway. "What, you're gonna put together a flower arrangement?"
“No,” he said. “I’m going to send June away if you don’t stop this. I have to. For her own safety.”
My face darkened. “You can’t be fucking serious.”
“Oh, I’m very fucking serious, Parker. What did you think, that you could just get away with this?”
“You’re not sending June away.”
“I’m doing whatever the hell I have to keep her safe.”
“You can’t make her leave.”
“I can and I will.”
I stepped right up and glared at his face. “I’m going to kill you if you do that.”
"No, Parker, you won’t" he replied calmly. "I told you already. I'm going to fucking stop you, no matter what."
Before I could pull away, the vase smashed against my head. I screamed, but the sound turned into nothing as the world danced before my eyes before finally going black.
"So, how was your day alone?" Rachel spoke up, giving me a friendly smile. "Did you spend some quality time together?"
"We really did, didn't we, Parker?" Dad said easily, cutting into the roast. Even though we had maids working for us, we still had family-style dinners. It was tradition. "We had a nice meal together and spent a few hours talking. It's been great catching up, son, right?"
"It was fine," I hissed. "Congrats on first place, by the way."
"Thanks." Kade clapped me on the back, glancing at June before returning his attention to the meal before us. "I didn't think I'd manage, but it worked out in the end even though I was so behind in the..."
His words drifted off. I couldn't focus. I could barely sit after what my father had done to me. And he'd promised he'd do it again, over and over again until I was what he deemed to be good enough for this fucking family.
After knocking me out with the vase, he tied me to a chair in June's room. He told me he'd have to redo everything—all his hard work—until I was “wired the way I should be.”
He beat me then. He used a belt until I was fucking covered in welts and painful bruises. He told me this would be a twice-weekly tradition from then on. He told me he'd beat me until he got those demons out of me, and then he forced me to wear long sleeves so nobody would notice my bleeding, black-and-blue skin.
I'd never seen my father as a monster. He was the quiet, slightly too serious dad who always did his best for us even though he also seemed a little distant. This was the most interest he'd ever shown in me. And little did I know there was a goddamn monster lurking beneath his skin. Maybe we were more alike than I first thought after all.
We were sitting at the dining table, a happy family on the outside, but utterly broken on the inside. Not that anyone would ever show it. We were all about the perfect family image, at least Rachel and Dad were.
My father smiled at me from across the table, and I swallowed thickly.
I hadn't been careful enough. I'd been careless and cocky. And now I was going to pay. I wouldn't get June this way, not while Dad was keeping a watchful eye on me.
I knew if I wanted June, I'd have to get rid of Dad.