Page 6 of Damsel in Disguise

His eyes darken. “Watch your tone.”

“Watch your control,” I fire back. “You talk like every other parent who thinks love means confinement.”

“That’s not what I implied.”

“Is it?” I lean forward, lowering my voice. “You don’t want me to grow, do you? You want me exactly where you can keep an eye on me.”

“That’s because I care.”

“And I’m suffocating because of it!”

I almost brought up Asher, how he left because of his suffocating control. But the silence stretching between us hints that he already realized I actually meant how Asher hates him now. And how I’m one step away from doing the same.

“You’re not ready,” he finally says.

“I am,” I insist. “And you know it too.”

“You’re still in high school.”

“In my final year.”

He finally looks at me again, brows knitting just slightly. “Oxford doesn’t work on impulse.”

“It works on influence.”

“And you think Oxford will just—what? Open its gates for you?”

“You’ll do it,” I say. “However, you always do. Donations. Connections. A signature with the right weight behind it,” I finish with a pause. “Then I can handle the rest.”

“That’s not how universities function, Ari,” his voice firms. “You’re under eighteen. You’re still in high school.”

“In my final year,” I repeat. “Which means this isn’t entirely impossible.”

He opens his mouth, already forming the argument.

“Have I ever given you a reason to doubt my grades?” I ask instead, tilting my head, letting the question settle.

“All I’m asking is to get me into their high school system. I’ll get into the university myself. Merit-based, I promise.”

I repeat the same thing I kept telling all the damn time, hoping this time it will do its magic.

He studies me then—not indulgent anymore but measuring.

“You’re asking for a lot,” he says quietly.

“I’m asking for a change.”

“You’d leave everything?” he asks. “Your family?”

“You already broke this family, Dad,” I blurt out before I can stop myself.

His jaw tightens.

“I’m not asking you to buy me a degree. Just give me the access. I’ll earn the rest.”

“And if I say no?”

I meet his gaze. “Then you’ll prove to yourself that you never saw me as anything but the Rapunzel.”