Selina pushed away the memory that swarmed her head, leaving a terrible ache in its place as proof of its return. Her eyes were filled with tears as she stared at him with hatred. This time, she allowed it to flow freely down her face.
“You killed my mother! You killed my mother!” she repeated over and over, her eyes blinding to her environment for a moment as a fresh batch of tears filled her eyes.
“It was an accident. I did not mean to,” he shouted at her as his face twisted into one of irritation and annoyance. “She was going to leave me just like you did the first chance that you got.”
Selina watched as he began to pace around, his hands pushing back his hair with a wild look in his eyes as he looked around seemingly disoriented.
“You are both so alike, abandoning me, betraying me. If she had not already made up her mind to leave me, I would never have done anything. I would never have hurt her at all,” he continued screaming at her.
“That is not true. You had already hurt her so many times before and you know that,” Selina shook her head adamantly, refusing to accept the lies he was trying to feed her.
“Well, I suppose it does not matter anymore. You will never have the chance to leave me ever again. We will both be leaving for Scotland first thing tomorrow. Someone I know is looking for a wife and I have already promised you to him. You will marry him and we will forever be close to one another. I will make sure you spend the rest of your life being a dutiful daughter.”
Selina stared at him in shock, horrified by the idea of going to Scotland. How had they gotten to this point? There had been a time when she had been so happy with both of her parents but now, it suddenly seemed like none of it had been real.
“Why are you doing this to me?” Selina asked him, crying. Was this really the man who had been there for her in childhood? The man she had so many wonderful childhood memories with? What could have gone wrong?”
“What do you mean?” her father asked her, staring her dead in the eyes. “I am tired of trying when nothing seems to be working. I got the estate and I got a huge debt with it. Most of the debt was paid off by your mother’s dowry and I kept trying to pay off the rest, however, the more time passed, the more it felt like it was never going to work.”
He sat on the dusty bed in front of her and rested his elbows on his knees.
“I got into gambling in a desperate attempt to pay off the money quicker but, instead, I got into greater debt. And yet, despite all of that, despite all the effort I had been putting into making our family work, Helen still wanted to leave me,” he said, his voice betraying his anger.
“I had been trying everything I could to make the family better but my ungrateful wife wanted to leave me just like my ungrateful daughter had,” he stared deep into her eyes as he spoke.
“What about the drinking? You were always drinking. How is that the action of someone working for his family?” Selina asked him.
“I needed the drink. What was I to do when my wife was never supportive?”
Selina’s eyes had dried up. She stared at him now as she saw the madness in his eyes. There was no way she would be going anywhere with this man even if he had to kill her the way he killed her mother. She knew she should keep her mouth shut but she could not help it. She would not allow him slander the memory of her mother.
“Stop deceiving yourself. I saw the marks on my mother’s arm, the tears in her eyes and the redness of her cheeks. I might have been young but I saw everything. Do not even try to say that it was an accident. You have been doing it all along,” she reminded him.
“Well, that is normal between married couples. There is bound to be quarrels and fights. You will soon come to know this for yourself when we get to Scotland and you marry my friend,” he told her like he believed it to be true.
Selina felt her anger double at that. She yelled at him. “That is not how a marriage should be. There should be love and comfort in a marriage. You should protect your partner from harm instead of being the one to cause it.”
As she spoke, she could not help but think of Morgan. He was the very sort of man her father should be like despite how scary he looked. Her eyes filled with tears once again. She was never going to see him again and he was going to keep thinking that she was trying to steal from his family.
Selina could not help but think of what could have been between them if she had gotten to him first instead of the letter.
It truly is all my fault.
“Now that is enough out of you,” her father said angrily as his hand lifted. Selina closed her eyes as she awaited the pain that was soon to hit her but then a loud crash sounded. Her eyes opened as her father jumped in shock, his hand reaching for the gun in his pants.
Selina’s eyes widened as she saw Morgan standing by the doorway. She watched in trepidation as her father pointed a gun at him.
“Morgan...”
* * *
Morgan was furious. He did not think that there had ever been a time when he was furious as he was right now. How could her father have her tied to hair like that as though she was not his daughter?
He held himself back, struggling with how much he wanted to punch her father for hurting her but he held back because of the gun in his hand.
“Oh, it’s you,” Morgan heard the man say as venom poured from his tongue.
He looked at him in confusion. “How do you know me?”
