AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Valentino is hot for sure, but he seemed to be laughing at me the whole time we interacted. The one truly friendly person I’ve met so far, Camile.
By the time lunch rolls around, I’m so beaten down and worn out by the stress of the day that I grab a sub from the cafeteria and rush back to my room to eat there in private.
I hide away for the entire hour. As I eat, big, fat tears roll down my cheeks. I yearn for my old life with the same raw ache that I miss my father. When he died, we didn’t only lose him; we lost our entire lives. Then I did that terrible, terrible thing. Now, we’re stuck here, in this horrible place, Mom and I having to play roles we don’t want to.
After I’ve eaten, I take some time to unpack. I don’t have much. We grabbed everything in a rush. I do have a framed photograph of the three of us together when I was small, and I place it on the table beside my bed.
Knowing I have to get back out there, I wipe my cheeks dry, pick up my bag, and open the door to leave.
I come face to face with my future stepfather.
“Mackenzie. What on Earth are you doing hiding away up here?”
My heart picks up speed and my mouth runs dry. “Sorry, Nataniele,” I say.
“It’s not Nataniele to you anymore,” he says. “When you’re around the other students, you will call me Dean Rossi, and in private here, you may call me Father, or Daddy.”
His direct gaze and the diabolical twitch of his lips lets me know exactly what he means by that.
I stare at him in horror.
“I can’t call you Father,” I blurt, purposefully not using the D word. “You’re not my father.”
“Except very soon, legally, I will be.”
“You’ll be married to Mom, but that doesn’t make you my father.’’
He steps closer and takes my jaw between his fingers, then squeezes as he turns my face up to his. He’s hurting me, and my hands curl into fists that I know I’ll never use if I want to escape this nightmare unscathed.
“Mackenzie,” he says so calmly and reasonably, as if he’s not crushing my chin in his fingers, “you do not disobey me.” He smiles at me, and it holds nothing but cold, supercilious cruelty. “Now, then, why don’t you go and mingle with the people you’re going to be spending most of your time with for the next year? You won’t make friends hiding away.”
He lets go of my chin and drops a kiss on the top of my head.
On legs like jelly, I push past him and hurry down the hallway.
This is worse than I had ever imagined it would be. I don’t know how I am going to survive this. I’ve lost everyone and everything that meant something to me, and I don’t think my mom knows just what a monster she’s made a deal with.
Chapter 9
Mackenzie
I don’t know where I’m going or what I’m doing, only that I don’t want to be here.
“Hey, are you all right?”
A female voice I recognize comes from behind me.
I blink fast, trying to make it look like I haven’t been crying, and then turn to find Camile standing there.
I force a bright smile. “Sure. Just first day nerves.”
Her mouth pinches and she frowns as she leans slightly closer, getting a better look at my face. “Really? ’Cause it looks like you’ve been crying.”
Her dark hair is a silky sheet, and I get a waft of coconut shampoo. Her warmth and concern are like a hug, and frustratingly only makes me want to cry even harder. How can I explain to her all the shit I’m having to deal with right now? My homesickness is like falling down a black hole and knowing I’ll never hit the bottom and I’ll never be able to climb out again. I’m sick for a place I’ll never go back to because it’s not just about missing my old home. It’s about missing my old life—a life that included my father—and that’s something I’ll never get back again.
I shake my head and stare at my feet. “Allergies,” I lie.
She pressed her lips into a line and then holds out her arms to me. “Those allergies look like they could use a hug.”
