Page 20 of Come Here and Kiss Me

How fucked up is that?

The thing is, he’ll find out. There’s no privacy with a man like my father. Every little lie will crash down around me. I already know it and just want all of this to disappear. So again, I consider telling him the truth.

At this moment of weakness, I contemplate confessing because I need the thoughts in my head to stop. I’ve spiraled before, and I know how this ends. Even though this feels worse. It feels heavier, and I don’t know how I’ll make it out of this if I’m forced to go alone. I don’t want to feel like this. My father might make me feel worse for a moment. He might call me names and say awful things, but he’ll make it go away.

“Fiancé,” I murmur as I pick up my cup of tea. All the while, a small voice in the back of my head screams for me to just tell him because it’ll be worse when he discovers the truth. I stare blankly at the cup, trying to figure out how to tell him while also protecting Ronan. It’s a delicate situation, given that Ro could lose his entire life over this.

I decide I just need more time to think.

“Your penthouse… is no longer yours,” my father states, interrupting my thoughts and causing my blood to run cold.

I blink at him, taken aback. “Excuse me?”

Certain things were split during their divorce, but since they were done, certain assets go to me.It’s mine.Or at least I was given that impression.

“Your allowance as well,” he says so easily, so definitively, like he hasn’t just stripped away all I’ve ever known.Allowance? That’s not what a trust is. Meetings with the lawyers race in my head, but all they do at this moment is question what I know about the law and the contracts I was told to sign.

My blood runs cold.

“You can’t do that,” I practically hiss as my hands attempt a fist, and my nails dig into my skin. My heart races, and adrenaline pumps through my veins as I realize what he’s doing. “You’re cutting me off?” I say like it’s a question, but it’s not. I know exactly what he’s trying to accomplish, and in the end, he’ll win.

He always wins whether I want him to or not. My mother is the only person who has ever given him a taste of his own medicine.

She’s strong.

Brave.

Not like me.

Despite being an adult, I still feel like I’m just a helpless little girl in his presence. I wish I could break the powerful hold he has over me, and now he’s simply stripping me of everything.

“But you should be fine, shouldn’t you?”he coaxes, feigning concern as he leans back in his chair. Another gust of chilled air comes by, and I shiver, wishing I’d brought a coat. “You have your fiancé, after all.”

There’s a thump in my chest, almost like hopelessness. Ronan asked me what I wanted. He wanted to make a deal.I swallow down the emotions coming over me, and I square my shoulders as I look at my father.

I decide right then and there to play this game with both of them.

“I’m sure my fiancé wasn’t expecting my finances to change drastically, but I’ll inform him of the change, and his counsel can advise me on any legal actions that should be taken.”

My father’s eyes narrow, and he leans forward. “Are you threatening me?”

I meet his stance, lacing my fingers in front of me as I lean forward.Almost whispering, I say, “Father, I thought we were here to discuss the person who violated your only daughter and her fiancé with that recording… so were you here for something else?”

Feigning ignorance and accepting his punishment without a fight, he fucking hates when I do that. And just like he always does, he storms off, huffing something under his breath that I don’t quite catch.

He loves to get to me.

He can eat shit.

Only after he leaves do I look down at my phone and read what Aspen sent.

Aspen:You better, B, cause this is bad.

I reflect on her text,then tuck my phone back into my purse before I get the hell out of there, realizing just how bad this truly is.

CHAPTER8

Ronan

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