Page 24 of Past

"Yes, you can, bestie," Izzy comments next to me, putting her hand on my shoulder. The doorbell goes, and I smile at Izzy.

"I will see you later."

"Be careful," she whispers, giving me a hug.

I walk out, waving at Blake in the kitchen, and answer the door to my dad. I can't help but try to see something different as I look at him. He always wears grey suits with black ties. Everything looks neat and like he just walked out of a store. His dark-brown hair is going grey at the roots, but it kind of suits him. There isn’t anything odd about him, nothing that would make me think he is a bad person. The kind of person who kills people, owns an illegal fighting club, and is, in general, a bad guy.

"Hello, my Alexandria," my dad says with a loving smile. I smile back,like I always do, but for the first time, it feels forced.

"Hey, Dad, let's go," I say, having to keep up a fake smile and shutting the door behind me. Dad doesn't say anything as I get into his car, and we drive to the same restaurant in town that we always go to.

"How's university going for you?" he asks as we drive.

"All good. I'm enjoying my business course," I say, but I don’t mean it. I don’t know why I let my dad talk me into that course. The only thing I’ve ever loved doing was dancing, but he convinced me it wasn’t a good choice for a future job. I glance at my dad’s face as he drives. He looks so much like the nice, kind dad I’ve always known, it's confusing.

"I'm very proud of you, Alexandria," he says, smiling at me. I can’t reply when my throat feels tight. I have to remember what he is doing to Elliot and his brothers. What he has always done.

We don’t talk as he parks outside the posh restaurant. It is a white building, and you have to go up a lift to the top floor. The top floor has all glass windows instead of walls, and the chef is cooking in a large, open kitchen in the middle of the room. We are seated at a glass table by one of the windows; the view is really nice, looking over the town. You can see all the lights and distant mountains of the Lake District in the background. As usual, my dad orders for me, but I don't mind as its chicken pasta and a nice, white wine.

"So, tell me, what have you been up to?" Dad asks, sipping his brandy from a tumbler.

I’ve always wondered why he only stays at home a few nights a week when he comes back home from working away. I now know he must have been staying at a hotel or somewhere to keep up with his work at The Cage. All the lies are adding up, and I wonder why he bothered keeping up with it all. I decide to mention Elliot straight away because I hate lying. I know part of me wants him to admit it to me, but I know he won’t. I know he has been lying to me for years, but even looking at him now, I only see the dad I’ve known. Not the monster I’ve been told he is.

"Dad, I've been getting close to Elliot King. Do you remember him from school?" I ask, taking note of how tense Dad gets. He puts his drink down before weaving his fingers together in front of him.

"Ah, yes, Mr. King. I do remember. I don't like this new person in your life. Does your brother know about this?" he asks. I don’t like his tone. A tone I’ve never heard him use with me. It is dark and spoken like a true threat.

"No, not until recently, but I like him. I like him a lot. He is a good man and–"I say, and my dad slams his hand on the glass table, making me jump.

"You won't see him anymore, Alexandria," Dad says each word slowly, his eyes drilling into mine. I move back in my seat a little as I see his cold face. I try to hold in the gasp by covering my mouth with my one hand. It’s true; I can see it, what everyone is telling me about my dad. It’s all true.

"Dad, no offence, but I don’t think I will listen to you,” I reply, lowering my hand and setting a glare on my father. He seems a little surprised. “You know what else is going to happen? He won't be fighting for you anymore, not if you want to see me. I know everything that has been going on. How could you?" I say, taking a huge risk.

My dad sighs loudly before righting his tie. He smirks at me in a cold manner that I don't like. It’s like this is all a game to him. I have a feeling he plays games like this all the time, and he likes it.

"My silly, little girl. At least you know the truth about my business. It’s been annoying seeing you so naive.” He shakes his head with a small, creepy laugh. “Unfortunately for you, I will just have him killed if you disobey me,"he says, deadly serious as he watches me.

"You won't kill him, that's crazy," I harshly whisper to him, shaking my head.

"You have no idea how much I hate the King family. Do you know what their father did?” Dad leans back in his chair, taking a sip of his drink before he continues talking to me. “I will do worse than just kill him. I can make him suffer, he’ll wish he never even heard your name,” he says. The sick part is that he says it normally. Like we could be talking about what to get from the shop for dinner.

“Elliot looks the most like his father, did you know that? His deadbeat father only did one thing right, and that was teaching those boys how to fight. That’s the only reason I didn’t kill them; it’s more fun to own them. To make them fight for me, kill for me. They all have done things in my cage that would break most boys.” He chuckles, like it’s a good memory, while I feel sick.

“The King boys have been a nuisance recently, first with that Izzy. Their father was smart to hide her from me. I remember her mother, a really pretty woman but stupid. She never understood who she was fucking. Now the King boys’ mother, Linda, was a smart woman but didn’t want children. I have no idea how he convinced her to have four!” He laughs.

“You could have killed Izzy, are you mad?” I ask, and he continues with only a slight pause at my question.

“The boys showed me another side to them with that Izzy nonsense. They are smarter than I gave them credit for, but I won’t make that mistake again. All that bother with my niece was just for fun, but they even managed to get out of that." He clucks his tongue, while I clench my fists.

"Niece?” I ask.

“Oh, right. I had a sister. She was a little crazy, eventually killed herself after having a child. Your cousin went to school with you. I didn’t know about her until she found me. Her name was Elena Michaels, or something like that,” he says, and I have a flashback of seeing him with her. Elena was crazy about Sebastian and ended up in a mental hospital a few months ago when she attacked Maisy. I didn’t think I could be more shocked, but I am.

“Do you know how fucking crazy you sound?" I shout, and a few heads turn my way as I stand up.

“Sit down, you’re making a scene. I am not crazy. You should learn to respect your father. I brought you up better than this,” he says in a clipped tone.

“Leave me and Elliot the fuck alone, Dad. I can’t believe what you have done. You’re a good actor, I'll give you that,” I say to him over the table.

---