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But more importantly, I don’t want her to get on my father’s bad side. He doesn’t seem too fond of her, anyway. I’ve kept Lila away from my family as much as I could over the last year and a half. This is my only way of protecting her.
“But Riley—"
It’s my turn to squeeze her hand, trying to soothe her worry by feigning bravery. “I can do this on my own,” I tell her, with a slight tremor in my voice, but I cover it with another fake… confident smile.
Except Lila is not falling for it.
She knows me, and she sees the vulnerability I try so hard to hide.
I am brave, I whisper in my head. I can do this. I’m taking control of my life.
“It’s okay, I got this.”
She finally relents, and lets out a sigh. “Okay, Maddox and I will be right here.” I meet Maddox’s eyes through the rearview mirror and he nods in silent acknowledgement.
Lila and I went to the movies earlier today. It was supposed to be a girls’ day out, but Maddox, the stalker, can’t seem to stay away from my best friend for too long. We found him in the aisle behind us in the theater. He tried to pass it off as a mere coincidence. Yeah, as if that’s believable. Maddox is so whipped for her, it’s almost comical.
“We’ll wait for you. Then we’ll go to my place after you’re done talking or I can drop you off at Grayson’s,” Lila continues.
“Yup. Thank you,” I whisper in gratitude.
I take a deep breath and step out of Maddox’s newest car, a black Bugatti. Probably one of his most expensive ones. He’s got a whole garage of them.
Lila shifts to the front seat, sitting beside Maddox. It’s crazy how she used to be so scared of getting in any car, since her accident. The trauma left her scarred and created an immense terror inside her. The mere thought of getting in a car used to push her over the edge and into a mindless panic attack.
But somehow Maddox was able to get rid of her crippling fear. And that’s why I know he’s the perfect man for her.
Lila trusts him…
Maybe more than she trusts me. And that’s okay. I can’t even be mad about it.
Because Maddox was able to put the pieces of her shattered heart together when I had been incapable of doing so.
She rolls down the window and gives me a thumbs-up, but her lips are thinned in a straight line, her eyes shining with both concern and protectiveness.
I give her a mini wave, before making my way inside the house. The moment I step through the door, my eyes lock on my father, who is sitting on the white armchair in the large foyer. He has removed his suit jacket, and his sleeves are rolled up to his elbows, his tie loose around his neck. He sits laid-back, with his left ankle crossed over his opposite knee.
Fear slides through my cold veins at his expressionless face.
He is eerily calm.
“What is the meaning of this, Riley?” he questions slowly, the deceiving softness in his voice making me sweat as my heart hammers painfully in my chest.
I swallow past the thick lump in my throat and take a tentative step forward. “I rejected Yale’s offer. I’ve decided that I’m not going to Yale.”
My Harvard’s admission letter flutters in my father’s hand. I can almost hear his molars grinding under the pressure of his clenched jaw. His fist closes around the paper, crumbling it before throwing it at my feet.
His expression changes in an instant. Going from calm to stormy, full of rage. His eyes darken cruelly and his lips thin into a furious, disapproving line.
My blood roars between my ears, and I feel the way my lungs cave within the confinement of my rib cage. Breathe, Riley…
My father slowly gets to his feet, straightening to his full height, and in two long strides, he’s in my face. “I will make a call to Yale’s Administration and speak with the President,” he tells me. The tone of his voice brooks no argument. “I will tell him this was a mistake, and you will apologize for your recklessness and promise him that you will work hard.”
I try to stand strong, to show no visible signs of fear, but with him in my face like this, I can’t breathe…
I take a trembling step back, and then another. Putting some space between us, between his fury and me. I know what his rage is capable of, the violence that accompanies it. Licking my lips, I try to speak…but I simply can’t. My throat closes, a choked sound spilling from my lips instead.
My father slowly advances toward me. “You are very lucky I know the President of Yale. He is a very close friend of your grandfather. But this is the last time I fix your mistakes. I will take this as a brief lapse of judgment from you, but it will not happen again. Understood, Riley.”
