Page 49 of Wreck Me

“You think growing up I couldn’t hear you through the paper-thin walls? Eight bedrooms in your multi-million dollar mansion, and the contractor couldn’t even build soundproof walls. Year after year, night after night, I had to sit in my bedroom, right next to yours, and listen to you and mother fight. Your resentment for me has never been a secret—at least not a very well-kept one to anyone inside the four walls of the Donohue mansion.”

“Who said I was trying to keep it a secret?”

I whimpered, closing my eyes to keep from losing it completely. My heart was shattering into a million pieces. Deep down, I loved him. Of course I did—he was my father. I had always held onto the small sliver of belief that he did love me, he just had a really terrible way of showing it. But now… Now I see I was completely wrong. “How can you hate your own daughter so much?”

“I don’t hate you, Isla. There’s a lot you don’t understand.”

But you sure as hell don’t love me.

“Try me,” I pushed. Shifting from one foot to another, I swallowed thickly and swiped at a tear that had escaped.

My father shook his head, glancing down at his watch to check the time. “I have no interest in rehashing the past with myungratefuldaughter. The past is in the past for a reason. There’s nothing we can do to change anything that transpired.”

“You have no interest in rehashing the past, and that’s fine. But hear me when I say there is no room for your plans in my future.”

Standing from his chair, my father buttoned the top button on his blazer. “You say that, Isla, but are you really ready to give up everything? I am tired of fighting you on this—you have never been the person I have wanted to take over my company. I wanted a son, someone I could pass my legacy onto, and instead, I ended up with a daughter. If you do not want to step into this role, I will not force you. But the moment you make your choice, there will be no going back.

“I am not a man who offers second chances, nor am I a man who negotiates. Your two options are as follows—you let go of your little fantasy of becoming a veterinarian and having a normal life, and become the head of a one billion dollar industry where you’re set up to thrive. Or you walk away from everything. If you walk away, you will no longer be a daughter of mine. You can say goodbye to your trust fund, everything you own with my signature on it—such as this apartment, and your car—and you say goodbye to yourfamily. What your mother does outside of our home is up to her, but you will no longer be welcome there, and I will no longer be acknowledging you as my kin. So choose wisely, daughter. Like I said, I am not a man who offers second chances.”

“All because I want to create my own life and not have you force me into one?” I choked back a sob. It felt as though I was floating above my body, watching this play out. Never had I felt so shattered, so utterly alone.

“No,” he replied, his voice void of all emotion. “Because you are a letdown. A mistake. And I knew you would be from the moment you were conceived in a Petri dish.”

“Get out,” I croaked, my voice cracking as I produced the sentence.

My father’s lips turned up in a sardonic smile. “Ah, so you’ve made your choice, then?”

“Get out, father.”

“I told you if you chose wrong, you lose everything. Myself included. Are you sure you’re willing to live with your consequences?”

“GET OUT OF MY APARTMENT, ANDREW,” I screamed so shrilly my vocal cords were instantly sharp with pain. I couldn’t breathe, the air expelled from me in ragged, choppy exhales.

My father rubbed his chin, his head nodding in acceptance of my decision. Taking the time to push in the chair he had occupied, he then moved toward my front door, twisting the knob and pulling it open. His back was to me as he held the doorframe in his hand, twisting his neck to deliver his final blow. “You have until the end of the month to move out. I will be calling the property manager and canceling your lease effective immediately. Don’t bother coming to the mansion for Christmas. Bernard will know not to let you on the property.”

His words ricocheted around me as he stepped out of the door and let the door slam shut behind him.

For several long seconds, I stood unmoving aside from the tremors that pulsated through me, my eyes pinned to the door my father had walked out of. Internally I crumbled, wailing and screaming, cursing my father, while externally, I stayed silent, too exhausted to make a sound.

All I wanted at this moment was to curl up in Caleb’s arms, knowing he’d let me shatter completely before helping me to rebuild. I so desperately wanted his comfort. But he wasn’t here, because my father threatened him and sent him away.

So instead, I forced myself to place one foot in front of the other until I made it to my bed. I pulled back my duvet, removed the jeans from my body, and climbed beneath the covers. Later tonight, I’d call Caleb and apologize for how my father treated him. I’d ask him to come over, and he would. But for now, I’d decided I needed to break on my own before I picked myself back up again.

CHAPTERTWENTY-SIX

Iknew this would happen. From the moment I saw her, Iknewif I let myself grow close to her, it’d blow up in my face.

Her father took one look at me and decided he knew everything he needed to know in order to make his snap judgment. And I couldn’t exactly fault him for it. They came from money. I came from nothing. It was written all over my exterior. Walking into Isla’s apartment in my worn-down clothing, childhood backpack slung over my shoulder…

Hell, I’d judge me, too.

What was really bothering me, though, was that he threatened to fuck me over simply if I did not leave her apartment. He’d used his connections with the police department to threaten to call and have me arrested for trespassing, when we both know damn well I was more welcome there than he was.

But with his simple threat, he had my hands zip-tied behind my back, forced to submit to his demands, otherwise I’d pay the price. I couldn’t afford to get arrested, or even have the cops called on me for that matter—not when I was trying to become one of them.

Not that he knew, or cared. Anyone who didn’t have a pristine pedigree and an overflowing bank account was beneath him. Period.

Walking out of the apartment and away from Isla when I knew she needed me was the hardest thing I’d ever done. But as I rode yet another bus to the stop closest to my house, I began to question everything again. All of my prior fears and hesitations were rising to the surface, even though I thought they had been dead and buried.

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