Chapter 106
Piper
August
“I’m ruined.” Father paces the length of his office. “I’m finished. My career. My life. Everything.”
“Father?” I ask quietly. “What’s going on?”
“Someone.” He drags a hand through his hair. “Some bastard is blaming me for something I didn’t do and threatening to have me killed if I don’t comply with his demands.”
He looks at me expectantly.
“What demands?”
“You.”
My stomach drops.
“Father...”
“Ungrateful, stupid girl.” His voice turns harsh. “I have sacrificed everything for you. I’m the only family you have left, and when I need you for once in your life, you can’t do a single thing for me?”
Tears burn behind my eyes, but I refuse to let them fall.
We aren’t close.
I’ve always wanted us to be, but my father has never truly been there.
Yet I cling to this image of him.
Because he’s all I have left after my mother’s accident.
“You’d let me die?” he asks, disbelief in his every word. “For something I didn’t even do? You’d kill me the same way you killed your mother?”
The words hit me like a slap. I physically recoil.
A tear falls down my cheek.
“What are you accused of?” I ask.
“That doesn’t matter.”
He resumes pacing.
“You want me to marry this man and, in return, you’ll be safe?”
“Exactly.”
I swallow.
“I’ll do it.”
Because, in the end, he’s my father.
I don’t know if he’s telling me the whole truth, or if he’s lying.
But why would he?
I could never knowingly let him die.
The tension leaves his shoulders immediately.
“I knew you wouldn’t disappoint me.” He smiles. “You’ve always been a good daughter. Your mother would be very proud of you.”
I feel sick.
“When is the wedding?”
“In two days.”
My head snaps up.
“What?”
It’s so soon. As if he already knew I’d agree. He probably never even considered the possibility that I wouldn’t.
“Send me the address,” I say as I stand. “I’ll be there.”
I leave before he can say anything else.
The tears come the moment I reach the corridor. I don’t bother wiping them away.
I just sold my life to save my father.
Or perhaps I did it because of the guilt I still carry over my mother.