Silence drapes over the room. My pulse thuds in my ears. I feel a bead of sweat trailing down my back beneath my crisp blouse. I stay perfectly still, a statue of obedience, waiting.
After an excruciating pause, Father adds, almost pleasantly, “Chase was promised a virgin.”
He did not just?—
I bite down hard on the inside of my cheek until I taste blood, anything to keep the hysterical laugh from escaping my lips.A virgin.Right. They’ve promised to deliver me untouched, like some medieval treaty bride. As if Chase’s entitlement to my body is the issue at hand, not the fact that he’s likely been screwing his way through half the women in his social circle while I’m paraded around as the virtuous prize.
It’s so absurd I could scream. But I do nothing of the sort. Instead, I lift my chin and look my father dead in the eye.
“Then he’ll get what he was promised,” I say softly. Each word tastes like poison, but I make myself swallow them down. Let him believe I’ve accepted my fate.
His gaze flicks to the door behind me. “Do I need to have your room checked? Arrange a medical test?”
“No.” My response is ice. I can’t keep all the bitterness out of my tone now. “You raised me to be better than that.” Better than some silly, weak-willed girl who can’t control herself. Better than the disappointment he’s implying I might be. The hypocrisy burns. He raised me to be cold, calculating, chaste, and compliant. A perfect little prop. And I’ve played the part well, haven’t I?
He straightens his jacket, smoothing an errant crease that isn’t there. “You want to stay at AGU?” he asks flatly.
“Yes.”
Father nods once. “Then clean up your image.”
Milo steps forward, looming at my side now. The disappointment rolling off him is palpable. His dark eyes—so like mine—are hard as stone. “And stay away from Omega Chi,” he spits. “I mean it, Mara. If I catch you anywhere near those OCK bastards, so help me?—”
“I understand,” I cut him off quietly. I can’t bear to hear him finish that threat. Milo, who used to be my closest confidant, now looks at me like I’m some stain on his honor. Like I personally affronted him by stepping over an invisible line. I keep my expression contrite, eyes downcast, even as anger simmers beneath my ribs.
Inside, something is writhing, coiling tighter with each order they bark, each humiliation they heap on me.
It’s not rage, not exactly. It’s not rebellion for its own sake. It’s something colder, more focused. Something dangerous.
Resolve.
Father studies me for a long moment, as if he can hear thedefiant drum of my heart in the silence. I make sure my face betrays nothing. At last, he simply says, “You’re dismissed.”
Dismissed. Like a misbehaving child sent to her room. A fresh wave of humiliation washes over me, but I rise from the chair in one smooth motion. My legs are steady beneath me. I won’t give them the satisfaction of seeing me stagger.
I give my father a shallow nod. My smile is demure, empty. “Of course, Father,” I say, my voice polished and polite.
Without another word, I turn and walk out of the office.
A pair of Milo’s frat brothers loiter near the corridor’s end, pretending not to watch. The second they spot me, they fall silent, gawking as I pass. I lift my chin and glare, enough to make them look away.
Outside, I suck in a breath of crisp air. The sky is cobalt blue, the sun slanting gold across ivy-wrapped columns.
I pause at the top of the steps, letting the October breeze cool my cheeks. My chest tightens, too full of anger, humiliation, and whatever else is clawing at my throat.
I want to scream.
Or cry.
Or throw something.
But I don’t. I just breathe.
The world expects the congressman’s daughter to be composed. Perfect. Unbreakable.
I glance left, toward the library where I’m supposed to meet Jasper. Something my father can’t reject since it’s a part of my class. He can’t control who my classmates are.
Then I look right.
