Page 94 of The Pact

Dad laughs, his lips twisting into a mean grin. “Selfless? Ausra, you’re even more naive than I thought. Being a slut is one thing and I could’ve even accepted it. Being a stupid slut is really saddening when I worked so hard to bring you up right.”

His words hurt. Again. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

He shakes his head. “I guess I believe you when you say that you haven’t given it up to the young Reynolds. This is why he’s getting his father to help you. Because he hopes to get in your pants. I’d just be very careful and dangle the goods in front of him until you have a signed contract with Bridgeport.”

I can’t believe my father! “You’re disgusting!” I seethe.

He laughs. A full belly laugh, throwing his head back as if I’d just said something hilarious rather than insulting him. “If you think Ashton wants you around for any other reason than that he wants to fuck you, then you’re even stupider than I thought. Sex and money are the two forces that motivate every action in this world.”

Ah, that’s the truth. The real Harold Winthrop. That’s what he really believes when he isn’t trying to get people to part with their earthly belongings in his favor. “Does it matter if I sleep with him or not? We both know that you’ll never let me have that job because I walked out on you. I haven’t forgotten that our family is a boat.”

My provocation doesn’t hit the intended target. “What if for once, you were rowing in the right direction?” he asks with a bone chilling smile.

“What do you mean?” I don’t trust him as far as I can throw him and it feels like he’s playing with me like a cat with a mouse.

“I mean that you can have your job at Bridgeport and attend classes there.”

I shake my head, not sure that I heard him correctly. “What?”

He takes a step closer to me and I retreat back against the balcony railing, feeling the cold metal bite into the naked skin of my arms.

“You can have that job and go to school as long as you agree to do something for me.”

I narrow my eyes. “I’m not moving back in with you, Dad.”

He shrugs. “That would’ve been ideal but I expected you’d be against it. And truth be told, keeping you and your sister on the straight and narrow was a full-time job. I don’t miss having you under my roof.”

Fucking father of the year, seriously. “Right. So what do you want?”

“Get closer to Ashton Reynolds. Change your name back to Winthrop. I’ll find a way to spin our estrangement under a favorable light. I’ll say that you wanted to make it on your own and not use my name to get ahead in life. It’ll make you look good.”

I can’t help the bitter laugh that escapes my lips. “Really? It’ll make me look good? Not you? Or aren’t you worried that you kicked me out because I was helping my sister and my niece, that you had kicked to the curb?”

Dad’s smile doesn’t falter. “Oh trust me. The Reynolds understand how it is to have ungrateful offspring. Especially Jeremy. He almost kicked his own son ‘to the curb’ like you said last year. Or didn’t you know that your boyfriend Ashton fucked his dad’s secretary? Jeremy wasn’t amused that his son was fucking his own mistress, that’s for sure!”

I’m surprised by the effect his words have on me. Instead of being mad at him for trying to manipulate me to his advantage, all I can feel is a wave of jealousy at the idea of Ashton with another woman. But I have no time to dwell on that because Dad is waiting for an answer.

“So you’re asking me to help you get on good terms with Mr. Reynolds? Why?”

He gives me an indignant look. “Being a slut is something you can’t help. It’s in your nature as a woman. Being stupid is something that your mother should take responsibility for. She’s failed in controlling you, in making you into something I could be proud of.”

The disappointment in his tone used to hurt me, this is why I used to go along with every crazy rule he introduced. Right now, to be honest, I’m beyond that. I’m just angry that as usual, he’s blaming Mom for everything that is wrong in our family. I’d have so many things I’d like to say right now but the need to get as far as possible from my dad wins over everything else. “Whatever,” I say, crossing my arms over my chest in a protective stance.

His reaction is a frustrated eye roll. “The reason why I need your help and I’m willing to reward you for it, is that Jeremy Reynolds just acquired a major share in the biggest social media and TV network company in the world. Getting a TV deal or even better, my own channel, with his network, would mean real power. It would help me make my church a worldwide phenomenon.”

A shiver runs down my spine and Lynda’s words echo in my ears. “Mission.” Dad wants to expand his church beyond Shell Cove and California. Just the idea of it makes me sick to my stomach. That he’d get more people to suffer what I suffered through under his roof. Lynda and some other girls in the families in his inner circle are already suffering it. Like always, when he has a new doctrine he wants to impose on his followers, the trial phase begins at home. And he’s asking me to help him to reach more people, to grow his influence. To shape lives the same way he wanted to shape my own. I can’t.

“Dad, I don’t want to do it. I—”

He interrupts me, putting a hand on my shoulder and I recoil from his touch as if I’d been burned. If that hurts his feelings, he doesn’t show it. “Just think about it, Ausra. You have time until the day of your interview. Let’s say in two weeks?”

I open my mouth to tell him to go fuck himself. That I might be a stupid slut but I won’t sell myself out to him and I won’t let him use my connection to Ashton to further his own agenda but a movement behind Dad attracts my attention.

Ashton steps closer, trying to step between me and my father. He’s holding two tumbler glasses filled with a dark amber liquid. “Is everything ok, Ausra? Is this man bothering you?”

My breath catches in my throat and I hear my heartbeat roaring in my ears. I shake my head to signal that I’m ok but I’m far from it. All I can think is “how much did Ashton hear?”

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