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The room givento me could have easily fit three of my old one. There was a sitting area with a huge television mounted on the wall. A bed that could fit ten people and a bookshelf that had books I wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole. Overall, it was a drastic improvement from my old room, where a twin-size bed took up most of the space. But it had been my place, my sanctuary, and now I had none of that.
I stayed in my room, only slinking out for the bare minimum to get food. Luckily, mom and Richard were never around. Come to find out, Richard Quell was the governor of Aridole and came from a family of politicians. What in the hell he saw in a single mother from the street was beyond my understanding. No matter how much I searched for dirt on the governor, I found none. He was squeaky clean. The man should be a bleach spokesperson for how clean he appeared. I knew the truth. There was something fundamentally wrong with him.
Growing up where I did, I knew when to spot a dangerous man, when I should keep my head down and walk away. Unfortunately, my mother lacked a few marbles and never knew when a monster stood in front of her.
I lay on my new bed and stared up at the ceiling.I hate being here.My skin crawled with the need to do something. Go for a run or play basketball. Anything. Being stuck in one place was driving me insane. However, I wasn’t allowed to go back to my old neighborhood. There was a guard not too far behind any time I ventured outside. I hadn’t dared to try and give any of them the slip just yet. I needed to understand my surroundings first and how long my chains were.
Worse of all I needed to win mom’s new man over. Richard had convinced mom with little to no words that any friends I made in that cesspool were a bad influence and would be after my money. What money? I had no freaking clue. There was no way in hell I was taking a dime from the asshole if I could help it.
My fist balled in the too-soft duvet as I glared at the ceiling as if I could burn it with my gaze alone. I always knew life wasn’t fair. It was only that for the rich and cruel. I couldn’t help the red-hot anger coursing me at the thought of my predicament. My life had never been perfect, and at times, it had been downright depressing. But it was mine. And now it was stripped away from me. To say I was out of sorts would be putting it lightly. It was as if I was left in the middle of the desert during a sandstorm and told to find my way back home. Not impossible, but the chances of survival weren’t ideal.
“Fuck.” I couldn’t go down that rabbit hole again. I wasn’t some depressed bitch who’d fall in line. I needed a new plan that would succeed. A knock at my door had me sitting up and blinking away the red haze of my anger.
Another maid coming to get me?I glanced at my new phone, the latest model of some over techy thing. The time was off. They were like clockwork, never a minute late or early to fetch me for my meals.It’s fucking prison.
“Kee?” Mom’s sweet voice fluttered through the door, and I internally groaned.
“Come in.” There was no point in denying her. She’d just come back again and again until Richard became involved, and then tears would come. It was just easier to give in before the bullshit started.
Mom walked into my room. She was now always decked out in a dress and heels. Her makeup was done to perfection. She had on pearls, something mom would have never worn before. What happened to the woman who would come out of her depressive episode and make fun of stuck-up bitches? Now she was one. Her nails were done a light blue that matched her eyes. They changed colors with every outfit, another change to my mom. She had my mother’s voice and eyes, but I swore a different person stood before me.
“You should really dress better, honey. Richard went above and beyond to get you some really nice clothes,” mom said.
“Yeah, that’s not creepy at all. A forty-year-old man picking out a seventeen-year-old girl’s clothes.”
Mom brushed it off. She did that a lot, but it hurt more now than in the past. Or maybe now that I was floundering about in my new world, I was in desperate need of my mom. Instead, she was sitting on the beach, watching me drown with a smile on her face sipping piña coladas.
“He just wants you to look like a respected young lady.” Mom smiled and walked around the room, her bright blue eyes roaming all over the place but not staying on me for more than a few seconds.
Shit, she’s going to have some bullshit to tell me.I could always tell when mom was hiding something and needed a way to break bad news to me. Her smile would always be a bit too wide, her gaze never stayed on one thing, and her shoulders slightly raised.
“Spit it out,” I ground out.Rip the fucking bandaid off already.It couldn’t be worse than being forced from my home and shoved into a new life.
“Richard—”
“No,” I interrupted her and slid off the bed. “No, mom, don’t Richard me. What is it that you came all the way over here to tell me? Because I’ve been here three weeks, and not once have you made an appearance in this room.” I refused to confirm it wasmyroom.
When she was home, it was a maid sent to get me then, and only then would I see mom. Otherwise, she was busy with Richard or something about other high-society women.
Mom bit her lip, her red lipstick not smearing at all. “Okay, one of our good friend’s son is having a party, and I know you must be getting tired in here, so I informed them you’d be attending.”
“You did what now?” I shook my head. Nothing should surprise me anymore, yet mom continued to pull the rug from under my feet.
“Come on, Kee. You need friends going to this new school, and you will need them to be high up on the social ladder. Now that you’re the governor’s daughter.”
My left eye twitched. It was taking everything in me not to slap some goddam sense into my mother’s empty as fuck head. Richard was far from being my father. My birthday was around the corner, and I’d no longer be a minor. However, more importantly, who the hell was this woman in front of me?
“Mom, do you hear yourself? When did any of this shit start mattering to you?”
She gasped and glanced at the door.
I rolled my eyes. “You really picked a winner this time.”
“Keegan, Richard is a great man. He loves me and still wanted to marry me after finding out I had a child. It’s not easy for single mothers. You know how many jerks I had to go through. Every time they found out I already had a kid, they went running. But not Richard.” She stood there dreamily, no doubt picturing Richard on some white horse wearing a cape.
Laughter void of humor tumbled out of my mouth before I could clamp it shut. “Wow, there is so much to unpack there, but I’ll ignore the fact that you’ve hidden my existence. Makes me feel really loved, mom.” I headed toward the bathroom, wanting to escape the woman who had birthed me. I asked myself so many times why I cared about her when she so obviously didn’t give a shit about me.
“Kee, don’t be selfish,” mom whined.
