“What do you mean?”
His jaw clenched. “I found a way out.”
Relief rushed through me so fast it made me dizzy.
“You did?” I leaned forward, gripping the arms of the chair. “Dad—oh my god—dad, I knew you would. You always do. We can negotiate with the Crows, or leverage something, or?—”
“No,” he tossed back the rest of his drink in one swallow. “I tried negotiating with that man. He plans to have you on your back, giving him six heirs. He will breed you until you break. Then he will depose of you.“
“Dad—”
“You think I don’t know what happens in their rites? He intends to cut you on an altar and fuck you in front of their dynasty. That is the future waiting for you.”
Nausea burnt up my throat.
“I’m scared too. I don’t want any of this. But maybe we can?—”
“There is no ‘we.’”
The words hit harder than any slap. For a second I felt them physically.
“I wanted a son,” he continued, voice shaking now, “heirs who could build. Who could protect. Who could inherit without conditions. Instead—” he gestured at me with a bitter, dismissive sweep, “—I have you. And you have cost me everything.”
“Dad, I?—”
“The Crows will take your body. And everything I built in Villain will be swallowed the moment you say ‘I do.’ You may as well be dead to this family already.”
“Please don’t say that,” I whispered.
Dead. Already. I forced the tears back. He was hurt. He doesn’t mean to hurt my feelings. Mother was the one that hated me. My father respected me. This was… this was grief.
He reached across the desk and pushed a small porcelain cup toward me.
“Drink,” he said.
I stared at it.
Then at him.
“What is that?”
“Your way out. A painless one. Quick. Before you finish the third mouthful, you’ll be in a better place.”
A better place. Not here. No. I heard him wrong.
“You want me to…” I couldn’t even shape the word.
“I am asking you to choose dignity. That life the Crows offer—it isn’t a life. You will be nothing but a sex slave to that man. A breeding vessel. A pet. This is better.”
My eyes burned hot.
“You want me to kill myself?”
“Suicide,” he corrected, clinical. “On your terms.”
I shook my head, tears spilling before I could stop them. “Dad… no. No. I want to live. I—” My voice cracked. “My show is paused and my phone is on the charger and I… I don’t want to die yet. I really don’t.”
“Madeline. Every second you cling to this life, I lose more. Everything I built vanishes if you walk into that dynasty. So drink. Make it easy. Clean.”
