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e behaving like a spoilt girl.”
“Harvey, enough,” Lisa said.
“No. I’m not even through with you yet. You think you can do whatever the hell you want, well it stops now. You’ve got a job—”
“Eli has asked me to marry him,” Aria said.
The room went silent.
“I’ve said yes.”
Harvey threw his head back, and started laughing.
“No, you’re going to marry Wayne. I didn’t get all this far to fail now.”
“Not happening, Harvey.” Aria squeezed Eli’s hand.
“I can stop you.”
“Fine. There’s nothing to stop me walking right out of here. You have no control over my life.”
Her father paused.
“I’m eighteen. Any hold you had on me is gone. Legally, I don’t even have to remain here.” She looked back at Eli. “Can I stay with you?”
“Sure.”
Aria turned back to her father. “You’re done controlling me. You’re done having a say over my life, and taking charge when you have no right to do so. This is my life, and I’m going to live it my way, and it’s not going to be with you constantly looking over my shoulder, or telling me who to marry. Arranged marriages are archaic. I was a baby.”
“I’ll lose everything.”
“You should only be worried about losing me.” She released his hand. “I’m going to grab some of my things.”
“I’ll wait here for you.”
Pushing his hands into his jeans pocket, Eli stared at Harvey Dean.
“I always knew you’d cause trouble.”
“I love your daughter, which is more than I can say about you. You wanted to sell her off, use her as collateral in a business deal even before she was old enough to think for herself. Aria needs a father who can care. Not an asshole who only sees the next business deal. Her kid going to be on the firing line next?” Eli asked.
“You little shit.”
“I said enough!” Lisa, her mother, said. “I’ve had it. Okay. Our daughter has lived with you long enough, and your overbearing tendencies. I’m done with your cheating ways, and your greed. You’re not a good man, Harvey.” Lisa turned to him. “If she needs anything, anything at all, call me.”
“I will.”
Aria was back with a couple of bags. She didn’t say anything to her parents, and they left, heading home to his place.
“This is bad,” she said. “I just walked out of my parents’ home.”
“You’re going to be fine, babe. You’ve got me, and we’ve got each other.”
At his home, Eli once again took her hand as they made their way toward his parents to face off with them.
“Son, what’s going on? Harvey Dean has threatened to sue my ass, and ruin me,” Larry Waters said, coming down the corridor with his wife in tow.
“It’s a little complicated,” he said. “Aria and I are getting married. We’re engaged to be married.”
