Page 61 of Something Borrowed

“You’re on speaker, Mr. A’Vara. Verity has been listening to everything.”

He snarls.

“Verity you come home. What the fuck do you think you are playing at? It’s obvious you only did this to piss me off. Now the game is over. Come home.”

She is still biting her lip.

Her eyes lift and meet mine.

My heart tightens when I speak to her, loud enough so that her father can listen in.

“Verity, if you want to go home you can leave. But I will not, ever, divorce you.”

I can feel the tension in the air as both her father and I wait for her answer.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Verity

Rufino is staring at me with an intensity that chills me right to my bones.

Giving me permission to go home would not have been easy for him.

I know he doesn’t want me to leave.

But - he gave me achoice. Something I have not been given too often in my life. A choice to choose whatIwant. For whatever reason. Without explanation. He is letting me decide my future.

For that - I love him even more. Drawn to him like a moth to a flame.

“Verity.” My father snaps over the loud speaker of Rufino’s phone.

“Verity, listen to the man. Pack your things. I will have a car collect you within the hour. Tell me where I can send them.”

My eyes close for a moment. I take a deep breath.

My father’s response is so typical of him.

First, he isn’taskinganything - he’s just flat outtellingme what is going to happen.Hehasn’t given me any choice in the matter. It’s his needs and his wants regardless of the fact that I am my own person.

Second, he isn’t even coming to fetch me himself. He wants to send someone else. He doesn’tmissme. He’s not doing this because he can’t wait to see me or because he’s been worried sick that I was missing. He doesn’t love me. I’m not even sure he cares about me at all.

I am a possession that was taken from him and he wants me returned.

This is all to appease his ego. To regain his control over me.

I open my eyes, drawing from the strength that Rufino gives me with his love.

I’m done with the way my father treats me. I’m over his narcissistic bullshit. This ismylife. I get to say what happens from here on out.

With a surge of adrenalin, panic, and anxiety bolting through me - I take another deep breath and answer.

“No.” I say, simple and blunt. As clear as possible. My voice just became a weapon against the years of living beneath my father’s strict rules.

“No?” he stammers into the phone. “Don’t you dare so no to me. Where the fuck are you? I am sending the driver now.”

“No, dad. I choose Rufino. I am staying here. I will not be coming back to your home. That isn’t where I live anymore.”

Rufino’s eyes are locked onto me and that gorgeous smiles of his is making me smile. My heart is swelling with confidence.

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