Page 16 of The Grumpy Billionaire
“I hate you.”
Dad shrugged and actually let out a chuckle.
“I hated my father, too, when I was around your age. Especially when he told me I had to marry your mother after she got pregnant with you. ‘Neelys do not have bastards,’” he boomed in a mocking voice then snorted. “You’ll get over it.”
“I won’t,” I swore. “I’m never going to speak to you again.”
His chuckle grew into a laugh. Clearly, he wasn’t taking me seriously. “Suit yourself. As long as you don’t speak to that boy again.”
“Mom will be mad at you if you send Cheryl away,” I blurted, growing desperate now that I realized how close Reid and his mother were to being on the street.
My father’s face contracted in a smirk. “I suppose you’re right. She does love having her little ‘crutch’ nearby, and there’ll be no end of harping about it if I evict the old maid.”
He paused for a beat to think then continued. “Here’s what’s going to happen. I’m sendingyouaway. You’ll spend the summer with your aunt and uncle and cousins in Missouri and go directly from there to Columbia in the fall.”
I blinked a few times as the shock settled. “When can I come back home?”
“When your ridiculous infatuation with ‘the help’ is over and you can assure me you won’t see that white trash boy again.”
My shoulders relaxed marginally, and my head stopped pounding quite so loudly. It wasn’t ideal, but it wasn’t the end of the world either.
It wasn’t like I’d be locked away in a vine-covered fairytale castle, trapped in a sleeping spell. Reid and I could text and call over the summer. Maybe he could even borrow a car and drive out to see me in Missouri.
When freshman year in college started, I’d be in New York, and he’d be at URI. We’d already plotted out the route from Kingston, Rhode Island where his university was located, to Manhattan and knew it was only about three hours by car and by train.
“And before you start thinking you’re going to carry on a long-distance ‘love affair’ and reunite when I’m not looking,” my father said, “or worse, run away together—”
He rolled his eyes at the idea. “Let me assure you… my reach islong.I can find anyone, anytime, and I have sources of information you can’t even begin to imagine. Iwillfind out about it if you ever see or even speak to him again. And Mara…he’llbe the one who pays the price.”
My head jerked back, and I had to swallow hard to speak around the boulder suddenly inhabiting my throat. I knew my dad was tough, but I’d never seen him this vicious before.
It was chilling.
“What does that mean?” I whispered.
“It means I’m a very powerful man. I’m the top legal officer in the state,” he said.
His tone turned speculative. “It would be a shame for your little crush to get caught up in some legal trouble and find himself locked away in the ACI. It’s unfortunate, but a lot of innocent people are convicted of crimes and put in prison. Sometimes inmates die on the inside, killed by other prisoners. And the young, attractive ones… like Reid… they probably wish they were dead. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone I cared about—certainly not on someone I claimed to love.”
The periphery of my vision went black, the sides closing in until I felt like I was seeing my father through a long, dark tunnel.
“You wouldn’t do that.”
It was a hope, a prayer, a futile grab at a rapidly retreating lifeline. That sleeping spell and enchanted castle were starting to sound pretty good.
“Oh believe me, little girl, I absolutely would.Ifhe lives through that and gets out in one piece—which is a big if—I’ll make sure he’s unemployable in this state and anywhere else I can call in a favor. His life, simply put, won’t be worth living.”
Dad left the threat there with a just-try-me look on his face.
I swiped at my own face, burning with hatred but understanding at the deepest level that I was powerless to disobey.
Because I did love Reid—and I wouldnotlet my father hurt him.
“So I’m supposed to just… disappear? Without a word to him?”
“Write him a note if you must,” Dad said. “But make it brief and clear. Don’t leave any room for doubt or hope. Tell him you don’t love him and have no desire to ever see him again. Tell him you’re leaving because you want to see other people, that you want a clean break.”
“He’ll never believe it,” I told him. “He knows I love him. He’ll search for me. Eventually he’ll find me.”
