Total pages in book: 30
Estimated words: 28488 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 142(@200wpm)___ 114(@250wpm)___ 95(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 28488 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 142(@200wpm)___ 114(@250wpm)___ 95(@300wpm)
“Figured you'd find out eventually. May as well be from me instead of a guy with a badge showing up to talk to you.”
“I need to figure out how to deal with this. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Good luck!”
She hangs up first.
I let out a pained groan as I stare up at the ceiling.
My fucking dad is at it again.
Dammit.
This will be the sixth time I’ve gone through these motions for him. Getting a bail bond and then making sure he shows up for his court date so we don’t go even further into debt.
“Are you alright in here?” Sebastian says as he pokes his head in. “Are you sick? That was one weird noise I heard from you, Clara.”
“I’m fine. That’s just the noise of me coping with my life.”
He walks into the room and sits down beside me on my bed. “What’s going on?”
“My dad’s in jail. Again.”
“Sounds like it’s his problem, not yours.”
I sit up, now side by side with him. “Am I supposed to just abandon him in there? He has no one else.”
“It sounds like he makes a lot of trouble for you.”
“He does. My mom passed before I was even a teenager. And he’s been in a drunken downward spiral ever since.”
“And you’ve been taking care of him all this time?”
“More or less. I’ve been working part-time jobs ever since I was able, and when I turned eighteen, I started working full-time alongside my studies, but I’ve had to bail him out of jail five times. And now I need to do it a sixth.”
To my surprise, he wraps an arm around me and pulls me close. It’s not sexual in the slightest. It’s empathetic. Caring. “That’s not how it should be.”
“Well, that’s how it is.”
“And that’s bullshit. A father’s role is to take care of his daughter, not the other way around.”
I look toward him. There’s a conflict inside him. Something that resonates with my own story.
“What do I do? Are you saying I should I just abandon him? Just leave him to rot?”
“The man is overly dependent on you, Clara. And sometimes people need to lose everything before they take responsibility for themselves and make a change.”
“I don’t see how being in jail is going to help him.”
“Maybe he can’t be helped,” he says, looking off into the distance as he runs a hand through my hair. “Not everyone gets a happy ending, Clara. It’s sad, but it’s the truth.”
“He’s my father. He’s family. I need to try.”
“Does he deserve your help?”
I cock an eyebrow and look at him in confusion.
“Maybe it’s my personal experience speaking, but if someone is such a wreck outside the home, they’re usually one inside of it too. Has he wronged you? With his words? His hands? Or even worse?”
I grit my teeth, a tear coming to my eye. “He’s done his fair bit of shaming. And I’ve felt the back of his hand for talking back to him.”
Sebastian’s fists curl as he hears me speak. “Let him go. He is not your problem, Clara. He forfeited the loyalty his blood bought him when he laid a hand on you, if not before that.”
The tears stream down my face. I’m not sobbing, but I can’t stop the waterworks either. He may have a point. “He’s the only family I’ve ever known though.”
“Then maybe you should find a new family.”
I continue to look up at him, even as he stares forward. This is so unexpected. He’s been nothing more than a hot, rich guy with a voracious sexual appetite up until now. Saying he likes it rough. Saying I can’t handle everything he wants to give me.
I didn’t expect him to come in here and try to comfort me.
And what’s more?
I didn’t expect to look at him and see someone who may be as broken as I am.
I nibble my lip for a moment, building up the courage to ask my question. “Are you speaking from experience, Sebastian? Has your own father brought you so much trouble?”
He lets out a sigh, continuing to pet me and hold me. “Is that any of your business?”
I push my luck. I climb into his lap and look right into his eyes. “I told you my pain. Now you tell me yours.”
He runs his hand through his hair, his lip quivering. “My father... he was the scum of the earth.”
“What did he do?”
“Horrible things. Sick things. Twisted things. Not much of it legal.”
“What do you mean? I heard the Montgomery family was big in the finance industry.”
“We were. Long ago.”
Sebastian’s eyes close. His first instinct is to not talk about this, but something inside him is pushing him forward. Urging him to open up to me.
“My father didn’t have much talent for the family business, so he went another direction to keep the money flowing. He did things that the law wouldn’t smile on.”