Home > Empire High Betrayal(8)

Empire High Betrayal(8)
Author: Ivy Smoak

He nodded, but he didn’t look reassured. “I thought I could protect you.” He lifted his hand away from my bandage and ran it down his face. “I never meant to put you in danger. You were safer without me.”

I’d never seen him like this. He was always so put together. But tonight? He just seemed…human. I liked this side of him a whole lot better. “I’m glad you found out about me.” I was just getting used to him. And I was a little sorry it had taken me so long. He was a good person. I could tell.

He cleared his throat and stood up. “You need to get some rest. And I have a few more things I need to take care of.”

“You’re not leaving, are you?”

He smiled down at me. “No, I’m not leaving.” He pulled the comforter back on the bed, holding it up for me to climb under.

Was he tucking me in? I wasn’t a kid anymore, but it warmed my heart. I had a weird feeling that despite having a daughter already, he didn’t really know what he was doing. I lay down and he pulled the covers over me. I was reminded of my mom again, tucking me in when I was little. Only he was way more awkward about it. Is it normal to literally tuck the sides in around my body? He was wrapping me up like a sausage. But the fact that he had no idea what he was doing just made it that much sweeter.

“Is there anything else you need?” he asked. “Anything at all? Are you hungry? Or…”

“Is James still here?” I wanted to thank him for everything.

He lowered his eyebrows slightly. “No, I sent him home.”

That was probably a good thing. James needed to be focusing on his relationship with Rachel.

“Do you want him to come back?” he asked. “I can have someone go pick him up. Just say the word.”

I shook my head. “No.” I didn’t need James right now. “But could you maybe get Matt?” I needed him. I just needed him to hold me like he had the nights after my uncle passed away. I needed his comfort. I wanted him back.

My dad nodded. “I’ll make sure he comes.” He leaned over and placed a kiss on my forehead. Instead of walking away, he pushed a loose strand of hair out of my face. His fingers slowly ran through my hair.

Even though the pads of his fingers were rough, where my mom’s had been soft, it still reminded me of her. I blinked fast, holding back my tears. Had she done this to him too? Comforted him when he was feeling scared or down? “Dad?”

He smiled when I called him that. “Yes?”

“Can you sit with me until I fall asleep?”

He sat down next to me on the bed, his fingers lazily brushing my hair again. “Of course.”

I closed my eyes.

It was silly, but it was almost like I could feel my mom next to me. If I focused on it hard enough, I could even smell her perfume. I started to nod off with my dad’s fingers untangling my messy hair.

“Go to sleep, princess,” he whispered.

If I was his princess, that meant Isabella wasn’t. I smiled to myself. I was going to take everything from her.

 

 

Chapter 5


Sunday

I opened my eyes as the light streamed in through the blinds. I felt disoriented and still tired. But something had woken me. And the first thing that popped into my head was that Isabella was here.

A door squeaked as if the hinges were rusty.

I sat up in bed. Everything in the apartment seemed brand new. So what door could have sounded that way? My heart was pounding as I threw off the covers. I rolled out of bed and stepped down onto the floor. Ow. How could my feet possibly hurt more today?

I cringed as I opened the door of my bedroom and peered out. The locked door at the end of the hall was wide open. It felt like my heart was beating in my throat as I tiptoed down the hall. I expected to see Isabella in the room. What I didn’t expect was to see a room packed full of furniture and clothes and knickknacks. And my dad sitting on an old couch, his hand on his forehead, the sound of him crying softly.

Richard Pruitt was crumbling. And for some reason it made me more terrified than ever. Was he scared of the monster he created too?

But then the smell hit me harder than it had last night. My mother’s perfume. I took a deep breath and my dad looked up.

He turned away from me, wiping at his eyes. “Sorry,” he said and stood up. “I was just looking for a journal for you to write in like Dr. Wilson suggested.” He picked a journal up off the couch he’d been sitting on.

“What is this?” I walked into the room. It was stuff from a lifetime ago. The couch had a hole in it and was worn from use. Outdated clothes hung on a rack. There was a crochet blanket folded on an end table. I swallowed hard. My mom loved to crochet. And her smell. It was everywhere. It was like I’d walked into the past. Where my mom was still alive. I looked up at Mr. Pruitt.

He was looking down at the journal in his hands. I looked behind me at the completely empty, stark apartment. The stuff in here could have filled this place. It would have made it warm and homey.

“When we were together, your mom lived here,” Mr. Pruitt said.

“You kept all her stuff?”

“Just the things she left behind.”

The things she left when you paid her to have an abortion. Maybe I should have been mad at him. But how could I be when I thought I just lost every possession my mom ever had? My Keds and her favorite blue dress were in a disgusting abandoned parking lot. This room held so much of her. Pieces of her I never even knew about. I looked down at the squirrel pajamas. They were hers. That’s why they smelled like her. I blinked away my tears. “Does anyone else know about this apartment?”

“Just a few members of our staff.”

I reached out and touched the blanket. “So not your wife or Isabella?”

He shook his head. “No. This was your mother’s place. I couldn’t bring them here.”

My mom had lived here. Probably thinking she and my dad had a future. He’d said my mother didn’t know he was married. She was waiting for him. Starting their lives without realizing he’d never be hers. “Why didn’t you sell it when she left?”

He tapped the journal against his thigh. “I thought she might come back.”

I pressed my lips together. He still loved her. It felt comforting to know that I wasn’t the only one missing her every day. “And what about now? That she’s gone?”

“I kind of thought you might want it.”

He wanted me to live here? Tucked away? Hidden like he’d hidden my mother from his family? I folded my arms across my chest, suddenly cold. “Did you bring other women here? After my mom left?”

He lowered his eyebrows. “No. Brooklyn, I loved your mom. I never made a habit of straying from my responsibilities. She was…she was it for me.” He looked down at the journal in his hands. “But I understand if you don’t want it.”

“I want it.” Of course I wanted it. It felt like my mom was here with me.

“Yeah?” He looked up.

“Mhm.” I bit the inside of my lip. “Does that mean you don’t want me to come back to your home?”

He smiled. “Our home, princess. No, that’s not what I meant at all. I’m adding extra security measures. And hiring a few new staff members.”

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