Page 21 of Merciless
I knew he didn’t have it in him to get angry with me. He had no trouble putting his foot down when it came to Madison or Tyler. But I was his soft spot. I had always been.
“I can just stay here. It makes sense,” I smiled. I had just lost my childhood home and every single possession I had, and I still preferred to live with strangers than my own father. I had to try to soften my rejection.
“No,” he said a little too determined than I expected.
“Oh, come on, dad. The Spencers are great. It’s my last year. Besides, mom will be back in a month or so, right?”
He shook his head, “Three. She’ll be back in January.”
“Fine, three. It’s not that big of a deal.”
Except it was. It was way too long for them to leave me without a parent at the age of seventeen.
“The Spencers wouldn’t mind, dad. Please. Don’t make me move.”
“I don’t want you staying in their house. They told me they knew about your mother. They should have called me. This might have never happened.”
I’m the one who should have called you.
“You’re not staying here. I don’t trust their judgement,” he sounded determined. Panic waves were washing over me. My stupid feud with my mother led to this.
“You could rent me an apartment?” I said without thinking, and yet the moment I said it, I realized it made perfect sense. “We will have to rebuild the house, right? And I will be eighteen soon. I could live on my own.”
“Are you crazy?” he looked at me as if I really was out of my mind. “You almost died because of your irresponsible mother. I’m not going to be the other parent that lets you down. You’re not living alone. This is your senior year. You have to finish school. I’m not letting you play games pretending to be an adult.”
Ouch.
“Well, dad, you won’t let me live alone, you don’t trust the Spencers, and I won’t come to Seattle. Any other ideas?” I asked pretty sure I was wining the argument. He would agree to leave me with the Spencers. He had to. It was the safest house in the state. Criminals would never target their home. Harry Spencer was their BFF.
“Ideas? No,” my father grinned and my stomach turned. “I have a whole plan."
???
Twenty minutes later we were standing on our street, eyes glued to what was left from our house. I hoped my mother really suffered. I knew it meant a lot to her. All the fancy furniture, the designer clothes, the pictures from her modeling days.
My father put a hand over my shoulders.
“I’m sorry, Clem, we have to speed things up. I really need to go back to Seattle. My plane is in three hours.”
“What?” my head snapped in his direction.
“I have to go to the airport,” he repeated softly. He was scared I would make a scene. He hated scenes. Especially those created by women. No doubt my mother constant hysterics had something to do with it.
I suppressed a ton of insults I could use about him and her that were flying inside my head.
“You haven’t even told me what’s the plan. What if I don’t like it?”
He shrugged. “You could always come to Seattle. Although you’ll have to get on another plane because my flight is fully booked. I got the last seat. My assistant really deserves a bonus.”, he chuckled.
I bet I know what kind of bonus you want to give her.
“I’m not moving to Seattle. And I don’t like this. It feels like you’re cornering me,” I sulked.
“I think you’ll like it. Come on.”
He shook me with his hand still over my shoulders and pulled me in a direction I would never ever consider as a place to stay overnight, let alone spend the next three months.
My mouth stopped working. I couldn’t make a sound. I just walked next to him. Dad rang the doorbell and seconds later Elizabeth Cole opened the door with a welcoming smile on her face.