Page 14 of Winning Her

A fucking month. That was how long it took my dad to remember I still existed after I left the mansion, and even then, only because my brothers were asking for me.

Just how long would he have ignored my absence, too busy with his new family to notice his eldest son had left the nest?

I had distanced myself from my family, from my dad. But it wasn’t like I’d done it all on my own. He didn’t reach out to me much, either. He’d forced me to tell him the day of my graduation, only for him to not be there, for both the end of high school and university. Then he’d told me to let him know when I started working so he could help me, only to call again several months later wondering why I didn’t ask for his help.

He didn’t get it was because I didn’t want it. I’d wanted to build things up on my own, and I did. Having his support would have been enough for me. If only the old bastard had had some faith in me instead of trying to run things behind the scenes.

Even though I’d been young when changes started to happen to him, I was always a smart kid, and I understood. His attention turned to the first baby, then the second, then the third, and there was no room for me. It looked like they didn’t need me anymore, so why would I have gone back anyway?

My father had changed, and I attributed all of it to this woman in front of me.

“I just wanted to check on Dad,” I said, forcing my voice to be polite. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know you would be here. I’ll just come back later…”

I tried to look over her shoulder as the paramedics pulled someone out of the ambulance, but she stood firmly in my way. I tried to go around her, only for her to move with me. I felt like I was about to snap, and I glared at the small woman in front of me.

“What are you doing?” I asked. “I need to get into the house too, you know. Unless you want to kick me out now?”

A delicate frown appeared on her forehead. “Trent, I would never try to kick you out of your home.”

I snorted, disbelieving. You did it anyway, didn’t you? Don’t pretend now, step-mother.

“Fine then. Emily wouldn’t tell me anything but you must have been with him. Can you tell me what Dad’s situation is?”

She didn’t speak immediately, her hands coming up to resettle the scarf she had around her neck. She looked uneasy, and it reminded me so much of Emily from before.

I scowled. “What can't you tell me? I’ve already had Emily dancing around the subject. Don’t mess with me, Alice. Tell me what’s happening with my father.”

She winced as I called her by first name, and I scoffed internally, wondering if she expected me to call her mom or something. So what if she’d known me since I was five? I didn’t consider her a replacement for my mother. If anything, I’d always thought of her as an intruder, and even after more than twenty years since we’d met, I wouldn’t think any differently.

“Trent,” she said hesitantly, looking up to meet my eyes. “I’m afraid that… your father doesn’t want to see you.”

I blinked down at her, tilting my head slightly to the side. I must have heard her wrong.

“What did you just say?” I asked. “Please repeat it because I think I must have heard you wrong.”

“You didn’t. Your father refuses to see you, Trent. I’m sorry.”

No, I wanted to say. There was no reason why Dad would refuse to see me. He was the one always badgering me to come back, and now that I had he didn’t want to see me?

My heart clenched as I thought maybe he was in a really bad state. My father had his pride, after all, and it was even greater than my own. If I didn’t want to see my dad lying down all helpless, he wouldn’t want his children seeing him that way.

But then, I narrowed my eyes at Alice. “Did you say something to him?”

She looked offended, but I couldn’t put it past her.

“Of course not! I swear, Trent, I tried to get him to agree to see you since you finally came home, but he just kept saying no. I’m sorry.”

I snorted at her apology. I didn’t need one from her for any reason.

“This isn’t my home,” I told her bluntly, then went to walk around her. She didn’t stop me now that Dad must have been taken out of sight. “This hasn’t been home for me for a long time.”

I ignored how my heart ached as I stomped back into the house.

Just why the fuck did I come back here? I wondered to myself.

My father couldn’t be bothered to see me, so why did Emily call me and tell me to come back? I was so fucking annoyed, enough that I could have just gone back to my room, packed my suitcase, and gone back into my car. I was so tempted to drive back to my own life, where everything wasn’t so complicated or annoying.

Work was stressful, but compared to dealing with my family it was a walk in the park.