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I freeze at this, my hands clenching while a tremor rocks my body, and I swallow hard. “Who said that?”
“Your parents.” He frowns when he stops the car by the red light. “They said you’re enrolling in school here. That was the deal, right?”
My heart plummets at this, and I roll my lips so I won’t scream in frustration, just as the car speeds up and the wind slaps me on my cheeks while my conversation with Dad plays in my mind.
“An associate degree,” he says, leaning back in his office chair and studying me intently while I shift uncomfortably under his drilling stare. “That’s what you want to do once you graduate in May?”
“Yes.”
“You’ve spent four years in one of the best boarding schools in the world, being an A student while simultaneously achieving all your goals in the music world before you decided you didn’t want to do it professionally.” Harp has been such a big thing for as long as I can remember. I fell in love with the instrument at first glance, and it soothed my soul in ways nothing else could.
Except I did something so horrible that I can’t find my usual solace even in my music, which means I have to run away from it, too.
“Dad—”
“What’s going on, Jimena?”
I huff in exasperation, dropping on the chair opposite his and decide to be as honest as I can. “I don’t know what I want to do.” He grabs his whiskey glass, taking a small sip, and since he stays silent, I elaborate, “Picking something now means I’m risking choosing a profession that won’t work for me in the future.” I exhale heavily. “I don’t want a degree I won’t use.”
“Knowledge is power, darling. I’d say it's one of the most valuable things a person can have, so there is no such thing as a useless degree.” Right. I guess it was the wrong thing to say to my father and mentally prepare myself for the lecture. But I blink in shock at what he says next. “You’re lying to me, and I’ll pretend to believe you on two conditions.”
“What are they?” My soul fills with dread because I’d have to either take them or do whatever the hell they have planned for me next.
I’ll get access to my trust fund at twenty-five, but until then, my father controls all my finances.
“First condition. You take a year off and do whatever you want. Enroll in some classes, travel, whatever your heart desires to cure this hurt in your eyes.” The air sticks in my lungs at this because my dad, indeed, sees everything. He might be one ruthless and vicious man when it comes to his enemies.
To me, though?
He’ll always be the best dad in the world, even if I forever exist in my brother’s shadow for him.
“My daughter is hurting, and she doesn’t want to tell me why. I’ll respect it and give you a chance to heal.”
Tears form in my eyes at the love dripping from his every word, and I get up, ready to hug him. “Gracias, Pápá.”
His splayed palm stops me, though, and I freeze, waiting for him to voice his second condition. “Once the year is up, you’ll come back home for good and choose a degree you want to study in Chicago.”
A loud honking in the distance snaps me out of my thoughts. I press my wet hand to my chest while the rain pours so much that I can barely see the road besides the shimmering lights all around us as the window wipers work like crazy. Mother Nature’s mood fits my own. “Yes. That was the agreement,” I reply hollowly while George grunts and resumes driving. My heart breaks into tiny little pieces because Dad didn’t forget about it.
I expected him to change his mind once I announced my desire to study art abroad, knowing it would make Mom proud, even though I have absolutely zero interest in pursuing a career in arts.
But I forgot one crucial thing.
Lucian Javier Cortez rules his kingdom with an iron fist and never changes his mind.
“Speaking of Greece. Did you meet anyone interesting? It must have been exciting to finally visit it, huh?” George chuckles while I roll my eyes, already anticipating what he’ll say next. “After all, your name is Elena.”
On most days, I’m incredibly proud to be my mother’s daughter because Rebecca Esmeralda Cortez is one of the best artists of our generation. A living legend, her art pieces grace countless museums and galleries, and her name alone speaks about success, wealth, and talent most people can only dream of.
She’s the epitome of born to create, and while I love all her achievements, it screwed me over big time. She loves everything about ancient Greece so while naming me, she wanted to allude to some myths, but my father refused her idea right away.
He didn’t want anyone to tease me for my name, and giving me some goddess’s name would have probably resulted in that. According to the staff, they went back and forth until they both settled on Elena as my middle name. In honor of Helen of Troy.
My parents love history and reading, always finding interesting topics to discuss. However, their favorite one has always been two particular masterpieces, the Iliad and Odyssey, written by famous Greek poet, Homer.
When the Trojan prince, Paris, fell in love with King Menelaus’s wife, Helen, and stole her, it led to the Greeks declaring war on Troy. It lasted ten years, with the Greeks winning and setting Troy on fire. Since Troy had an unbreakable wall, they used trickery. They built the Trojan horse and presented it as a gift from the gods. Soldiers hid in it, and then once the horse was brought inside the city, they all emerged and burned and conquered it. One of the reasons the horse became the symbol of the greatest deceit for thousands of years.
The war saw many losses, victories, and love stories with brave and power-hungry, vicious men on both sides who would do anything to win.
