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An eerie sense of familiarity washed over me as he followed me down the hallways as I made my way to my old room. The house that I’d grown up in now felt entirely different and unfamiliar.
The Serenity who’d been trapped in this house for years was not the same Serenity I was today. My father and his antics and this fucking house had been the reason that I didn’t have one ounce of privacy or personal space in order to figure out who I really was and what I really wanted.
But now I knew. And there was something so damn freeing about that knowledge.
My father lingered outside of my bedroom door as I stepped inside, and I silently turned around, awaiting whatever other instructions he was about to give me.
“You made a grave mistake,” he said, backhanding me so hard I saw stars. I bit my lip to stop the yelp that threatened to escape from the pain. Instead I swallowed it, forcing myself to not show an ounce of pain. “But you're making a smart choice now,” he continued, almost looking disappointed at my lack of response to the hit. “We may be able to salvage what you so thoroughly ruined.” And with that, he shut my door, and I heard him shuffle down the hallway.
I flipped off the closed door and rolled my eyes before taking stock of my old room. It really hadn't been touched. Nothing was different.
Nothing except me.
I headed into the bathroom, noting the array of skin care products already laid out and ready for me to use for my nighttime routine, all the steps that should be seen as self-care were obligations to keep a priceless asset pretty.
I shoved all the products in a drawer, not out of any hatred for their quality, but just for what they represented.
Control.
Everything with my father had been about control. Everything with most of the males in power in my family had been about controlling not only the people who worked for them but their wives and daughters and sons.
And looking at it from the perspective I had now, I noticed how fucking cowardly it made them. They were so insecure and narcissistic that they had to be able to dictate every little thing everyone around them, and if anybody got out of line, they were more than excited to dole out a punishment. It was a disastrous, toxic pattern. One I probably never would have seen if it had not been for escaping it.
And yes, I had gone from one household to another, not venturing out on my own, but Gareth was so wholly different than everything my father stood for.
While I may have been dependent upon him, he made sure that he gave me all the tools necessary to feel independent as well as find out who I really was underneath all the buried hostility my father had inflicted.
I had no idea that another world existed until I started getting snippets of it through the billionaire’s games, and after Gareth had fully gotten me out?
I'd had my awakening.
And my father had no clue who he was dealing with.
I not only remembered everything I’d been raised to believe and adhere to, but I now had the fresh perspective as somebody who was completely in control of their life. That was a dangerous combination, especially because he trusted me. Trusted the daughter he'd raised to be quiet and submissive and an expert secret keeper. Never questioning if I would use any of that information against him.
His mistake.
His mistake indeed.
He'd always felt comfortable running his mouth in front of me, almost forgetting that I was there in the shadows waiting for his commands like a trained animal. I don't know how he could forget that I knew his methods inside and out, right down to where he kept his most valuable information.
He may have texted me a snippet of the video evidence he had against Gareth, but I knew exactly where he would store the original video. It was on an external hard drive that he’d called his precious in some sick joke a year ago. An external hard drive that he kept in his community safe. The one no one knew was there, except for me.
I waited until the house was fully asleep, dawn just barely stretching awake over the sky as I made my way to my father's study, easily shifting the knockoff piece of art to the side and entering the combination that I'd seen him enter a thousand times before.
There was no telling what else was on this hard drive, and I clutched it to my chest like a lifeline before shutting the safe and returning the painting.
Funny, if my father had left well enough alone I may have never thought to collect it, the absolutely precious piece of evidence that no doubt had endless proof against him and all his wrongdoings too.
I tucked it safely in the front pocket of my pants, letting my long tunic top hang over it. I’d gotten what I came for, and it was almost too easy?—
“You're up early,” my father's voice sounded as I made my way out of this study, finding him in a robe, a cup of coffee in his hand as he looked at me curiously. “Thinking of running?”
I shook my head, doing my best to look submissive as I made my way past him, but he followed me, and I paused in the hallway with the front door in view. I hadn't brought anything here that I was attached to. I didn't need to return to my rooms to grab anything, but if I walked out the front door right now, he would have his men hold me back.
Shit shit shit. I’d counted on the bastard being asleep.
“You're dressed like you are,” he pressed. “That will be one of the first things we work on this morning. Returning you to the way that I raised you. Those clothes look ridiculous on you. Go pick out a dress from your closet and put it on.”
