Page 97 of His Son's Brid
Dad goes very still. "What did you just say?"
"Don't call Axel a bastard. This isn't his fault."
"Not his fault?" His voice drops to something dangerous. "He slept with you. Got you pregnant. Then came to my house andarranged for you to marry his son while lying to my face. And you're defending him?"
"He didn't know it was me! He didn't know I was your daughter until the engagement party!"
"I don't care!" The roar makes me jump. "I don't care what he knew or didn't know! He betrayed me! And so did you!"
"Dad, please..."
"Reckless," he spits. "You're reckless. Stupid. A disgrace to this family."
Each word is a knife.
"You sound just like them," I whisper. "Just like everyone who called me damaged goods when they found out I was pregnant."
"Maybe they were right."
The words hang in the air between us, and I watch my father's face crumble as he realizes what he just said.
"Aurora, I didn't mean..."
"Yes, you did."
"I'm angry. I'm furious. I just found out my daughter has been sleeping with my best friend behind my back."
"I'm your adult daughter!" I'm shouting now too, months of frustration exploding out of me. "Not your property! Not a pawn! Not a piece on your chessboard! I'm a person who made a mistake! Who fell for someone without knowing who he was! Who's been trying to survive this nightmare you put me in!"
"I was trying to protect you!"
"By selling me to Leo? By arranging a marriage without asking me? By keeping me in the dark about my own life?"
"I was trying to give you security! Stability! A future!"
"I didn't want that future! I never wanted to marry Leo! I never wanted any of this!"
We're both breathing hard, staring at each other across a chasm that feels impossible to cross.
"I loved you," he says quietly, and the past tense destroys me. "I loved you more than anything. You were my little girl. My princess."
"I'm still your little girl."
"No." He shakes his head. "My little girl wouldn't have lied to me. Wouldn't have betrayed me. Wouldn't have..." He stops, swallows hard. "I don't even know who you are anymore."
Before I can respond, the door slams open again.
Leo stumbles in, drunk and wild-eyed. He must have been listening outside, must have heard everything.
"It's true," he says, his words slurred but venomous. "It's actually fucking true. You fucked my father."
"Leo, get out," Dad orders. "This doesn't concern you."
"Doesn't concern me?" Leo laughs, high and unstable. "My fiancée has been screwing my father, and it doesn't concern me?"
"She's not your fiancée anymore."
"Good!" Leo's advancing on me now, and I can smell the whiskey on his breath. "I don't want your sloppy seconds anyway. Though I guess technically, Dad got my sloppy seconds, didn't he? Since I had you first in college."
