Page 224 of Pucking Sweet

I step forward. “Well, if you have no faith in his political career, then why did you try to pair us both with him? Why did you push so hard for these marriages?”

“I didn’t,” he shouts. “You think I wanted any of this? I want mygirls happy. That’s all I’ve ever cared about. I don’t know what either of you ever saw in this turkey bird,” he adds, waving at Anderson’s prone form. “But I was willing to put on the tux and pay for the wedding. Twice,” he adds with a glare. “If it made you happy, and your mother assured me it did, then I was gonna suck it up and do it.”

My heart shatters all over again. “So, this really has been all about Mom and her vision for our futures.”

“Your mother is a complicated woman, Princess.”

“Oh Daddy, please. She’s a narcissistic ‘queenmaker’ with a god complex!”

“Hey,” he says, tone firm. “Don’t talk about your mother that way.”

“Daddy, she ruined our freaking lives! She forced us both into thinking Anderson was a good match. Ineverwould’ve picked him for myself if she wasn’t in my ear from the age of ten telling me the best I could ever hope to achieve in life was becoming a politician’s wife. I’m supposed to be the woman behind her man, raising him up and helping him shine.”

“That’s ridiculous,” he counters. “We sent you both to the best schools. You have a top-tier business education. Violet has a law degree. Pops, you’re a goddamn director in your field.”

“I know,” I cry with a wave of my hand. “I did all thatdespiteher, not because of her. She’s been dragging me down and hating on my choices my whole freaking life because they weren’therchoices.”

He sighs, shaking his head. “I didn’t know.”

“You didn’t care,” I clap back, hands on my hips. “You’ve never paid attention to what was happening to us at home, what she was doing to us. Daddy, do you know she took Violet’s trust fund away? Just took it. Poof.” I snap my fingers.

He looks to Violet with a raised brow. “She did?”

Violet nods. “She said she was giving it to Poppy.”

“And the only reason I’m even here is because she was threatening to do the same thing to me,” I go on. “You heard her, Dad. At the Lafayette. Were you even listening? She hates my choices, even though they’ve made me the happiest I’ve ever been in my freaking life, and she’s punishing me for it. She was so determined to see Violet married off, she just recycled my bad pick. I mean, it’s madness! And it has tofreaking stop.”

Daddy’s quiet for a moment. “I’m sorry. Girls, I’m so sorry. This is all…” He just shakes his head. He looks to Violet. “What do we do here, sugar bean? What do you want?”

“I don’t want to marry him,” she replies. Panting, she wiggles the huge engagement ring off her finger and drops it down to the paving stones next to Anderson’s limp body. “Daddy,please.”

“But you owe him money? There’s a contract involved?”

She nods.

“Right. Well, I’ll have my people deal with that first thing in the morning.” He turns to me. “And what do you want?”

Heart racing, I hold his gaze. “Nothing,” I reply. “The only thing I’ve ever wanted was the respect and genuine love of my family. Since I can’t have that, there’s really nothing left.”

Daddy’s eyes narrow at me. “You think I don’t love you?”

Tears sting my eyes. “You may love me, Daddy. But you don’t respect me. You don’t respect any of us. You and Mom, you both just trample and control—you with Rowan, and Mom with us. And I’m telling you, it has to stop. You need to open your eyes and see that we are our own people with our own goals and dreams. I may not have followed the path you set out for me, but that doesn’t make what I do beneath your notice or your respect.”

He takes a step closer. “You think I’m not impressed by your career? You think I don’t talk up your accomplishments to my friends and colleagues? You think I don’t watch hockey games, hoping for a glimpse of you?” Closing the space between us, he cups my face.

Tears fall as I lean into it, pressing his hand to my cheek.

“You are so strong,” he says down at me. “Every day, you make me proud. Never change.”

Taking a deep breath, I hold my dad’s steely blue gaze. “You’re right. I am strong.” Reaching up, I brush his hand away and take a step back. “I’m strong enough to know I deserved better from you. We all did.”

His eyes narrow as his shoulders tense. “Poppy—”

“All my life, I just wanted you to see me. I wanted you to care. I wanted you to protect me from her . . . but you didn’t.”

He sighs. “I’m so sorry, honey.”

I nod, reaching blindly for Colton’s hand. His touch is like a lifeline, giving me strength. “And maybe someday I can forgive you, butyou need to know that I will never forget. This is what it took to make you see us.” I gesture around. “Your indifference brought us here as swiftly as Mom’s constant meddling. If you ever want to earn my respect back as your daughter, you will fix this.”

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