“Morgan, you will listen to me, and listen good. You willneversee that boy again, got it?”
It isn’t like I have a plan with Jack. Quite the opposite. I never know what I am doing when it comes to him, but being told by someone else what I can and cannot do is jarring.
“I am an adult,” I reply with conviction. “You can’t say who I can see.”
His eyes darken and he drags his thumb along his peppered jawline.
“Do you honestly think adults can make any choice they wish? That’s juvenile thinking. You belong to a congregation that depends on you. You’re more than a leader. You are the embodiment of what our fellowship strives to be.”
“We are all flawed, though! Even you. We are sinners.”
“Yes, but your sins cannot be akin to breaking the ten commandments! You cannot commit grave depravity and expect the world around us not to crumble. The daughter, and future leader of this church, cannot have premarital sex. She cannot date an atheist. She cannot be caught in a parking lot like agoddamnjezebel.”
I hold myself tightly as the weight of expectations squeezes the air from my lungs.
“I know him,” he growls low. “Can you imagine how quickly you would be canceled if you were seen dating a nonbeliever? What a tremendous hypocrisy. They would question your faith. Think we are all an act.”
A tear rolls down my cheek and I wipe it away. He draws in a deep breath and points at the church.
“We have over a hundred employees who depend on us to feed their families. When we open the new megachurch, that jumps to three-hundred. We will only grow from there. You want a choice? You are choosing to ruin many lives for desires of the flesh. Is that what you choose?”
I shake my head.
“Say it, Morgan. Say it and mean it. I don’t want you ever talking to Jack again.”
“I won’t,” I assure, but the words taste awful on my tongue, but refusing feels worse.
He nods, approvingly. “I want you to pray for forgiveness tonight. Then, you will date Gabe and Blake and choose the one you like best.”
“Dad! That’s crazy.”
“No, that’s making an adult decision. Your twenty next week. The path you are on isn’t to go to college, party through your twenties, get a career, and then maybe have family. You wed early and start a family, and as husband and wife, you two will follow in my footsteps whenever I retire.”
I sniffle softly. I knew that expectation, too. I just thought my future husband would be an easy choice that happened naturally. Not one set up by my father.
“Okay,” I whisper.
He walks away.
And I die a little inside.
In just a few days, that moment reshaped my life.
I have bodyguards. Paul, Greg, and Owen. They take shifts. It’s suffocating and annoying.
Bailey has been tasked with giving my dad a daily rundown of my schedule and what happened the day before. She is no longer my assistant. She ishisassistant.
My phone wasn’t taken from me so much as it was wiped clean. For my safety. And to ensure I stay safe, it is cloned to my father’s phone so he can seemy messages.
“I am not worried about you talking to Jack. I trust you,” he explains. “It’s to make sure bad actors don’t scam you as we grow.”
I’m more tech savvy than my dad, so I’d catch a scammer before him. He just wants to be my gatekeeper from Jack.
Next, Eugene has been assigned to manage my personal finances.
“I don’t need an accountant, Dad.”
“You do. He will keep track of your spending and make sure you remain wise and frugal.”
