His face softened the slightest amount, but he still wasn’t happy with the answer.
“You set off a dozen security alarms and sent my guys into a frenzy. I tried calling you, and you continually ignored it. I nearly had a heart attack trying to get everything under control.”
“I was on the phone with Harper,” I said, trying to sound as innocent as I could. I didn’t want him to have any reason to get more stressed.
“This is ridiculous, Regan. I leave you home with anything you need, and yet I have to be woken up in the middle of the night with an alarm about someone walking onto my property.”
“Do you have sensors around the yard or something?”
“I have them at the wall you had to climb over. I run a security company. You think I don’t have this place locked up well enough?”
“I mean, I assumed, but I didn’t know for sure.”
“No, because you don’t think about anything past your paintings or this ridiculous show,” he snapped.
The words cut hard and deep. Maybe this took up a lot of my time, but it wasn’t the only thing I liked to think about, and if it were up to me, I would be doing a lot more. But I didn’t dare argue back. Upsetting him further would be the last thing I wanted to do. His health already seemed fragile, and the stress couldn’t be good for him. Everything I had read about his disease said stress would only make his symptoms worse, and I couldn’t be the reason he got worse.
I shook off the sting as my dad’s phone rang. He seemed so wrapped up in being angry that he answered while still at the table.
My dad hid so much from me, and I realized this was one of those things. He rarely, if ever, took phone calls in front of me. He would glance at the caller ID and then head to another room fast before answering. I wasn’t allowed to hear what he had to say or what they were calling about. The realization nagged at me, only upsetting me more.
“What?” he asked, waiting as the other person spoke. “Like I give a damn. We told you two weeks, and I mean two weeks. To the fucking hour.”
He stayed silent again, his lips pressing harder together. “If I don’t have the money, you are going to lose a lot more than just your business. Time is running out. You’ve lost yourself a day.”
My mouth dropped open, the words sounding more like something I would expect from someone like Rook rather than from my suit and tie, CEO father. I could only stare as my dad got up and glared at me.
“I have to go,” he snapped at me. “Stay at home this weekend. I don’t need you going out and causing even more problems. You’re not to leave the house at all.”
“What if I need food?” I asked, dumbfounded.
“Order it. I have too much to do, Regan. I have meetings, travel arrangements.” He paused, clearing his throat. “Doctor appointments. I have a lot on my list, and you are not helping.”
“You’re right,” I said, giving in immediately as tears welled up. “I’m sorry.”
He only shook his head and pulled out his phone as he headed towards the front of the house.
I sat, staring as the door slammed behind him. I didn’t want to cry. I didn’t want to face how much of a burden I seemed to be to him when all I wanted to be was an asset, but I couldn’t help it.
I was failure, and I hadn’t even tried to be.
As much as I wanted to follow my dad’s rules and stay home, it was Hallows Night, Havenwoods annual Halloween festival, and we never missed it. I had slipped out of the house, leaving the TV on and hoping the noise would help not raise any suspicion. I didn’t actually know how many cameras were in our house, and at this point, I didn’t think I wanted to. I should be able to go out with Harper without an issue, though.
Harper had picked me up down the street, and ten minutes later, we were walking downtown.
“You think you can get away with being out?” Harper asked, surprised I had snuck out. I rarely went against my dad’s requests, preferring to stay in his good graces, but I couldn’t stand to stay in those four walls any longer today.
“I don’t know. I hope so. It’s like the place is mocking me. I walk around knowing I can’t leave or my dad will get mad but not being able to stay and do nothing anymore because I get mad. I don’t get it. I’ve done everything he wanted me to. Whynot let me help with the business? Who else would he give it to one day?”
Harper rolled her eyes with a groan. “A man, probably.”
My stomach rolled. “You think he would hand it over to a random person because he has a dick instead of giving it to me?”
“I think your dad likes powerful people and seems to think men are more powerful.”
I ground my teeth together, knowing she could be right. “I can be as powerful as any man.”
“I get it, but does anyone else? You hide away in the house and do what he tells you to. Maybe he truly doesn’t know you can do it.”
