Chapter 65

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On most days, I considered myself to be a fairly ballsy bitch, even ballsier and bitchier than other sixteen-year-olds who grew up in a world as vicious as mine. It usually took a pretty big and scary personality to knock me down a peg. My dad was one of the few people who possessed the power to snuff out my bravado with just one look.

At present, the man's laser-sharp gaze was practically boring holes into my skull. In a cold, quiet voice, he remarked, "I found out from the registrar today that you weren't at school. That's very unlike you, Cate."

Trickles of alarm ran up and down my spine, but I ignored them. I needed to keep a level head—focus, stay calm, reveal as little as possible—if I was to have a snowball's chance in hell of surviving the interrogation headed my way.

In equally chilly tones, I replied, "I know, Dad, and I feel terrible about it. I promise I'll go to all my teachers tomorrow and make up everything that I missed."

His jaw clenched. "Cut the pretense. Where were you? What were you doing all day if you weren't in class?"

I shrugged lightly. "I... wasn't feeling well. I went to the store to buy some meds. Am I in trouble for being sick?"

"No, but you left campus without my permission. Somebody called in an absence for you, and it sure as hell wasn't me."

"I asked a classmate to do it for me. Again, I know it was wrong of me, but I didn't want to bother you over something so trivial."

Studying me from head to toe, he raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Well, you've certainly made a speedy recovery."

I mirrored him by arching mine. "What can I say? The meds are working."

"You were with that Mazur boy, weren't you?"

"No, I broke up with him yesterday. After I took the cold meds, I fell asleep in my car. It was only supposed to be a quick nap, but I ended up passing out until now. Believe it or not, I was in the school parking lot all day."

He laughed humorlessly. "Must have been some strong meds."

"Tell me about it."

His eyes narrowed shrewdly. "Show me the receipts for the medication."

My nerves fluttered under the weight of his glare. "I-I threw them away."

"Why was your phone turned off all day? I had important business to discuss with you."

"I forgot to charge my phone last night. It ran out of battery. I'm so sorry, dad, I didn't get your messages until now."

"Is that so?"

"Yes."

A steely gleam entered his gray eyes. "I wonder, then, how you managed to get your phone to turn on a minute ago."

Fuck, I slipped up!

I had been on such a roll, too. Immediately, I rushed to fix my blunder. "I borrowed a friend's charger before I headed home. It gave me enough juice to—"

My dad waved away my excuse with a flick of his hand. He cut me off, "Enough with this nonsense, Cate. I don't appreciate being lied to. I'm your father. Tell me the truth. What were you really doing today?"

"I told you," I insisted, "I was feeling sick, so I—"

"If you won't talk," he snapped at me again, "then I will. I've decided that it's in your best interest to transfer to another school next semester. There's a top notch public school called Emerson High located twenty minutes from our house in DC. You can move in with Andrea and me come January. I feel as though your classmates at Ashton Wellesley are becoming a bad influence on you. Like that Mazur boy."

"Wait, Dad—"

"I've never seen you skip school until you started hanging around him. I don't know how many more times I need to warn you, Cate. Timothy Mazur is a criminal. That man is in prison for a reason, and you need to be mindful of the fact that apples don't fall far from their trees."

My eyes widened with horror.

Was he for real?

The fucker wanted to ship me off to DC. To some second rate public school, no less. And live with a stepmother who I'd never met before.

Each subsequent realization hit me like an additional punch to the gut. This kind of power play was exactly what I was afraid of and why I'd been so desperate to find something of consequence to defend myself against my dad and protect my relationship with Zac from his tyranny. Dismay paralyzed me. I needed more time to prepare. I wasn't ready to fight him head on just yet!

My sperm donor proceeded to the second half of his onslaught, "While I was on campus today, I had the opportunity to meet with your new principal. Dr. Farnsworth mentioned something about wanting to discipline Walter Sinclair's daughter. He claimed that she might have played a practical joke on you over the weekend. Something about an unpleasant video? At Bethany's charity ball?"

I glared at my dad. "No amount of discipline will ever justify what Lily did to me."

As though I hadn't said a word, my dad remarked, "I'm surprised to hear that you and Lily aren't getting along. She is such a smart, sweet girl. From such a decent family, too. Wally is a friend of mine. His daughter's actions against you, I'm sure, were all in good fun."

"It was more than a practical joke, and there was nothing funny about it. Lily knew exactly what she was doing to me."

My dad scoffed. "You are overreacting, Cate. At any rate, I have already assured your principal there would be no need to pursue the offense. I'd like for you to work things out privately with her. It might be beneficial for you two to overcome your differences and become better friends."

My jaw fell open in a daze. At this point, I felt as though my soul had exited my body. An eerie, unnatural calm settled over me. I became an observer in my own fucked up life because, surely, my own father hadn't commanded me to forgive a girl who dredged up crime scene photos of my dead mother for hundreds of my classmates to gawk and gape at a charity event for drug and alcohol overdose. Such callousness was a new low even for him.

In a shaky but dignified voice, I whispered, "Fuck you."

My dad had the audacity to look surprised. "Excuse me?"

The logical part of my brain knew that it probably wasn't smart to rile him up, but it wasn't like I had much to lose at this point, anyway. My dad had threatened to rip away everything and everyone I cared about without even batting an eye. He was prepared to wipe the floor with my face, and, at this point, there wasn't much I could do to stop him.

Bitterness came pouring out of me like blood from an open wound. "You might be pleased to learn that Lily and I are already well acquainted. She told me everything about you and her dad. I know you guys worked together to put Mr. Mazur behind bars. You're nothing but a lowlife piece of shit who kisses the asses of even bigger lowlives to further your own means. All of you disgust me. Zac is ten times the man you'll ever be. I don't want your money, and I don't care where you decide to send me next semester. Just know that once I turn eighteen, you'll never see me again."

My dad's jaw clenched and unclenched. His face actually paled in color as though my words had struck a nerve. "Is that what you think of me, Cate?"

I jerked my chin. "Yes. For the record, I know you were the one who gave Lily those photos of Mamma. For that alone, I'll never forgive you."

My dad didn't even try to dodge or deny a single one of my accusations. I could only assume, then, that they were all true.

He released a heavy sigh. "Cate, there's something I need to tell you."

I snorted and started to walk away. I didn't want to listen to another word. What I wanted to do was call Zac, tell him to hurry the fuck up with that lockbox, and update him on all the bombs my dad had dropped on me so we could formulate yet another fucking plan to prevent the bastard from tearing us apart.

My dad called after me. I refused to slow my steps. At this point, I believed there would be absolutely nothing he could say to convince me to go back and talk to him.

I was 100% ready to wash my hands of him until he said, "I'm dying, Cate. Doctors predict that I probably only have a few months left to live. A year, at most."

My steps faltered.

Fucking hell, I really hated it when I was wrong.


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