Page 55 of Winning Her

I sneered at him. “You’re right about one thing—this is way too late. I’m not sure I even care anymore, so you just wasted a trip.”

“Why can't you give them a chance?” he asked with a narrowing of his eyes.

“I have given them chances,” I countered. “I talk to them, don’t I? Besides Emily, but what am I supposed to talk to her about?”

“What about Alice?” he asked, voice neutral.

I let out a harsh laugh. “There’s even less reason for me to talk to your wife. That woman is nothing but a menace, and you have no idea how many times I wish she never existed or come into our lives.”

“Trent!”

“Do you even have any idea what her brother did to me?” I shouted back, and that gave him pause. It was obvious that he had no idea. “And you seriously call yourself my father?”

We stood on opposite sides of the room just watching each other for a while. My body still trembled, while Dad just stood there looking calm. I knew he was a little flustered because I’d had time to read him under his professional mask.

“What do you mean about Alice’s brother?” he finally asked.

I let out a derisive snort. “Do you even care?”

“Trent,” he said my name in warning.

I watched him in defiance for a moment before speaking.

“You know he worked at the boarding school you sent me too, right? Right up until middle school, and then I made you send me to a high school with no affiliations to that school, and I ended up in the same place as Jessi.”

He nodded, prompting, “Go on.”

“He was my warden at the school. That gave him the right to administer disciplinary action, only, he didn’t always report it, just because he could.”

Dad’s eyes were narrowed, and I wondered if he was clued in already.

“He did something to you,” he voiced it as a statement, not a question.

I gave him a grin for his trouble. “You guessed it, Dad. The man was a bastard. And do you know what that bastard used to tell me, when he would pick me up for no reason, lock me in a room with him, then belt me until I was begging him to stop, and he still did it? He kept telling me how you were all starting a new family, how I was going to get tossed aside. And of course his sister’s little brats would be heir to everything, and she would hand him a nice little nest egg for his trouble in looking after an unwanted brat like me.”

Dad was looking at me with a shocked look that was at the same time the most satisfying thing, and yet not. I hated reliving the memories, but I wanted him to know. To realize just how deep my resentment for him went, and how it wasn’t all that unfounded.

“In all that time, Dad, you never helped me. And for years, I had to put up with that bastard’s shit. Then I decided if you were all going to throw me away anyway, I might as well be the one to leave first.”

“Son, I never would have—” he started, but I cut him off with a slash of my hand.

“Save it, Dad,” I growled harshly. “I’m not looking for pity, or an apology, or any assurance. I just figured you might as well know, because you always wondered why I never wanted to go back home. Why I never wanted anything to do with that woman.”

“Alice had nothing to do with this,” he said.

I watched him for a moment, before breaking into chuckles. Suddenly feeling exhausted, I walked over to the couch and slumped into it while Dad remained standing. I couldn’t even look at him anymore because I didn’t want to see the expression on his face. I meant it when I said I didn’t want an apology from him. It was way too fucking late for that.

“Trent,” he said, his voice firm. “I’m going to look into this now that I know. I can also promise you one thing: Alice had no hand in what her brother was doing. She wouldn’t have known, and she’s never given him anything, so everything he told you was a lie. Ever since she heard about you she sincerely wanted to meet you, wanted to be a mother to you. I know she would never replace Mom for you, she doesn’t for me either, but she wanted to try. The least you could have done was given her a chance.”

I pressed my lips together, not wanting to admit he was right. That I could have been wrong about everything, and because of the misunderstanding, I’d missed out on far more than I should have. I’d missed out on the family I could have had if only I had opened up and spoken up sooner.

Back then, I had made a choice. And it wasn’t the right one.

“I won’t force you on this matter,” Dad said after a moment of silence. “You’re a smart boy, and I know you can think for yourself. And also, Jessi makes the finest tiramisu I ever tasted. I don’t know what happened between the two of you, and I don’t care, but if you don’t bring her back to Charlotte, I will have your balls for it.”

I couldn’t help but let out a laugh because his words mirrored Emily’s, but then I let out a sigh and looked over at Dad. He stood there a little awkwardly, not quite meeting my gaze. Then he walked over to me, patted me on the shoulder, and headed for the front door to let himself out.

“Well,” I muttered. “I guess I wasn’t any easier, was I?”