Gideon nodded once, like something had just been confirmed in his mind.
“I’m assuming, from the recent communication, that things have not gone well here.”
“You could say that,” I replied flatly.
“I hear you’ve been spending time with the wrong people,” his voice sharpened. “Is that why you went out of your way to get my attention? Is that why you’ve embarrassed me yet again?”
The anger hit so fast it almost knocked me off balance.
“Embarrassed you?”
“Do you know how much money I had to spend to get you out of this mess?” he snapped. “Do you know how much trouble you’ve caused? Jesus Christ, Persephone, I knew it was a mistake letting you leave the house. You can’t just follow instructions. You can’t just do what you’re told!”
“I was attacked, Father!” My voice cracked open, raw and furious. “Lured into the woods and beaten. For what? For breathing? For being a Quinn?”
“You are not a Quinn!” he roared.
The words hit me harder than Ollie’s fists.
Gideon stepped forward, eyes blazing. “Real Quinns do not behave the way you do.”
Something in my chest went cold.
Hollow.
Fractured.
I tried to speak, but nothing came out at first.
Then, softly:
“That’s the part you hate the most, isn’t it? That I’m a part of you. That I came from you.”
“I don’t know where you came from,” Gideon said, his voice thinning with something that almost sounded like exhaustion. “I don’t know why you had to be so… different.”
A blade slipped under my ribs.
I forced my chin up. “A father should love their children regardless.”
“Love?” He barked a bitter laugh. “You want to speak to me about loving a child after what you did to Sable?”
Ice swept through my veins. “I did nothing to her.”
His eyes hardened into stone. “It’s your fault she’s dead. It’s because of you.”
I stumbled back and hit the wall.
The air punched out of me.
How did he still have this power?
How could I not shut him out?
“And not just that, Persephone…” Gideon stepped closer, each word a deliberate strike. “The night Sable came for you, she wasn’t alone. Someone broke into our house and stole files.Myfiles.”
I blinked, confused. “What files—?”
“I need to show you something.” Gideon’s tone was flat, clinical. “Security footage. From our own system. They knew exactly where the cameras were — except one.”
