AllFreeNovel
Share Us
All the previously muttered digs, disappointment, and failed attempts at reconciliation wash over me as my gaze flicks around the room. An avalanche of bitter memories in this house threatens to bury me alive. I can taste the resentment of my very existence here, and I hate it. “I’m so fucking done,” I repeat in a whisper.
“Excuse me?” my father asks incredulously.
“You heard me. I’m done with you. With letting you think you can treat me like I mean less than anyone else. I hated fitting into your perfect daughter role, so I gave that up, but what I did after that is so much worse.” Emotion clogs my throat, but I swallow it down. I need him to hear me because this is the last thing I’ll ever say to him.
“I made myself smaller for you. I made myself less, and no one deserves that. It kills you that I want to help others. Those animals in that shelter have no one. I am their person, but you wouldn’t understand that,” I sneer, stepping backwards. “And you can’t understand that I want to be loved for who I am, not what my bank balance is. Fuck, I deserve to be loved like that. I don’t care if you know that Harrison and I had a business deal. I don’t care if you set your lawyers on me to get your money back because the truth is, I’ve got something in my life that makes me feel like I’m important.” My chest heaves, my heart heavy in my chest. “I’ll never be enough for you. I’ll never get it right, and I am done trying.”
I pause, looking at my brother’s sending them a silent apology that I’ve lied to them with their best friend. “Harrison and I might’ve started as a deal, but he has chosen me every goddamn day since we began this.” I turn back to my father. “And that is something you’ve never done.”
The first tear falls from my eye. This is the first time in my adult life that I’ve cried in front of him, and as I stare at his stoic face, unchanging and completely detached, I know I’ve done the right thing. Max stands, opening his mouth, “Don’t. Please, just don’t,” I plead, not wanting to hear what he has to say right now.
Rushing out of his office, I find my mother sitting on the chair in the hallway, legs crossed, hands planted on her knees, as though she’s waiting for a train to come. There’s no way she didn’t hear my outburst and yet, when her eyes flick to mine, she looks… pissed. The little girl inside me is screaming, causing my heart to beat wildly in its cage because this person, my mother, has never been maternal a day in her life. So, why am I hoping that today is the day she opens her arms and I run into them? Why do I keep holding on for something neither of them will give?
The final piece of my childhood crashes to the floor with a splintering smash. I can’t do this anymore. I can’t pretend to be fine when nothing about this is fine.
If they can’t accept who I am, then they don’t deserve to be a part of my future.
I turn on my heels and walk out the door. Not even looking back.
Chapter 43
Harrison
Myphoneringsthroughthe speakers in my car as I drive home. I’m about to answer when I’m interrupted as soon as the call connects.
“Harrison?” Max’s urgent voice makes the hair on my arms stand on end.
“Max? What’s wrong?”
“Is Zoey with you?” he rushes out.
“No, she was with friends for lunch, but I haven’t heard from her since around three, maybe.” I check the time on my car dash and the red glowing numbers tell me it’s almost seven. My pulse thrashes wildly in my neck at whatever he isn’t telling me. “Max, what’s going on? Where’s Zoey?”
He exhales, the sound choppy down the phone. “She and dad got into a massive row and…”
His pause makes my temper snap. “Max,” I shout.
“I-I don’t know where she is. She isn’t picking up her phone. She’s not at her flat.”
My right foot presses heavier on the accelerator and my car takes off ten miles an hour faster. “I’m two minutes from home. I’ll let you know if she’s there.” She’s probably wrapped up in my bed eating ice cream, or at least that’s what I’m praying I’ll find at home.
I hang up, my knuckles white as I grip the steering wheel and focus on driving, ignoring my rapidly increasing heart rate. Flying in to park my car, I rush out to the lift, not feeling the cooler air of the underground carpark trying to bite at my skin. What the fuck happened between lunch and now?What if she’s done lying about what we are?I could lose her. I could lose everything.
Anxiety trickles down my throat like razor blades as I swallow and push my thoughts away. My first priority has to be finding her.
When I finally get upstairs, I tear through each room, only to find every one empty. “Fuck,” I curse, running my hand through my hair.
I try her phone again but it goes straight to voicemail. A line of sweat dribbles down my spine. “Where the fuck are you, Zoey?” I mutter to myself.
I text Max to tell him she isn’t here, but I’m going to keep looking for her.
I pace the kitchen as useless thoughts swirl around my brain until one sticks, and I call the one person who might know where she is.
“Hey, man.” Grayson’s voice comes onto the line.
“Hey, is Nora there?”
“Uhh, yeah.” He hesitates. “Why?”
