Empire High Betrayal (Empire High #3) - Ivy Smoak Page 0,12

had a weird feeling that despite having a daughter already, he didn’t really know what he was doing. I lay down and he pulled the covers over me. I was reminded of my mom again, tucking me in when I was little. Only he was way more awkward about it. Is it normal to literally tuck the sides in around my body? He was wrapping me up like a sausage. But the fact that he had no idea what he was doing just made it that much sweeter.

“Is there anything else you need?” he asked. “Anything at all? Are you hungry? Or…”

“Is James still here?” I wanted to thank him for everything.

He lowered his eyebrows slightly. “No, I sent him home.”

That was probably a good thing. James needed to be focusing on his relationship with Rachel.

“Do you want him to come back?” he asked. “I can have someone go pick him up. Just say the word.”

I shook my head. “No.” I didn’t need James right now. “But could you maybe get Matt?” I needed him. I just needed him to hold me like he had the nights after my uncle passed away. I needed his comfort. I wanted him back.

My dad nodded. “I’ll make sure he comes.” He leaned over and placed a kiss on my forehead. Instead of walking away, he pushed a loose strand of hair out of my face. His fingers slowly ran through my hair.

Even though the pads of his fingers were rough, where my mom’s had been soft, it still reminded me of her. I blinked fast, holding back my tears. Had she done this to him too? Comforted him when he was feeling scared or down? “Dad?”

He smiled when I called him that. “Yes?”

“Can you sit with me until I fall asleep?”

He sat down next to me on the bed, his fingers lazily brushing my hair again. “Of course.”

I closed my eyes.

It was silly, but it was almost like I could feel my mom next to me. If I focused on it hard enough, I could even smell her perfume. I started to nod off with my dad’s fingers untangling my messy hair.

“Go to sleep, princess,” he whispered.

If I was his princess, that meant Isabella wasn’t. I smiled to myself. I was going to take everything from her.

Chapter 5

Sunday

I opened my eyes as the light streamed in through the blinds. I felt disoriented and still tired. But something had woken me. And the first thing that popped into my head was that Isabella was here.

A door squeaked as if the hinges were rusty.

I sat up in bed. Everything in the apartment seemed brand new. So what door could have sounded that way? My heart was pounding as I threw off the covers. I rolled out of bed and stepped down onto the floor. Ow. How could my feet possibly hurt more today?

I cringed as I opened the door of my bedroom and peered out. The locked door at the end of the hall was wide open. It felt like my heart was beating in my throat as I tiptoed down the hall. I expected to see Isabella in the room. What I didn’t expect was to see a room packed full of furniture and clothes and knickknacks. And my dad sitting on an old couch, his hand on his forehead, the sound of him crying softly.

Richard Pruitt was crumbling. And for some reason it made me more terrified than ever. Was he scared of the monster he created too?

But then the smell hit me harder than it had last night. My mother’s perfume. I took a deep breath and my dad looked up.

He turned away from me, wiping at his eyes. “Sorry,” he said and stood up. “I was just looking for a journal for you to write in like Dr. Wilson suggested.” He picked a journal up off the couch he’d been sitting on.

“What is this?” I walked into the room. It was stuff from a lifetime ago. The couch had a hole in it and was worn from use. Outdated clothes hung on a rack. There was a crochet blanket folded on an end table. I swallowed hard. My mom loved to crochet. And her smell. It was everywhere. It was like I’d walked into the past. Where my mom was still alive. I looked up at Mr. Pruitt.

He was looking down at the journal in his hands. I looked behind me at the completely empty, stark apartment. The stuff in here