Casing ✔️

Chapter 1

I stared at the briefcase in front of me, and the two huge bags with clothes, and the empty one beside them. I was more than ready to finally get a real life, but all this packing made me nervous. It was really happening.

My whole life I'd been cooped up inside this damn house. Not that it was a bad house, no, it was pretty amazing, I just never knew much else. It was large enough to have all my aunts and uncles and their families living with us, but thankfully they only stayed for a night or two during the holidays.

It was also old, and could use some remodeling, but my dad was a sucker of traditions. The house had been in his family for a couple generations—even his job was the same one my grandfather had before he retired. And it wasn't a normal job.

To me, it was. I never knew anything else. But I could never tell the few friends I met at the park what he did. I never saw those friends again, anyway, because I was never allowed to do much. I was homeschooled, and books became my best friends very early. They were the only things I could really depend on—and as I grew older, the books grew darker.

With an added bonus of hot men and adult activities. So to speak.

So, the now-plain room around me was starting to feel suffocating. I wanted to go to college, get an education and a job far away from Datoches and my dad's work.

My sister, Nina, stepped into my room just as I hopped off the bed to go get the last of my clothes from the closet, and I smiled at her. She was a beauty. Older, but still prettier than I was. We shared the same upturned nose and full lips, though her hair was naturally blonde and I'd bleached mine.

She was taller, too, but I never saw my height as a problem. I could always get someone to help me if I was unable to climb to get what I wanted. I was charming like that; dad's partner both loved and hated me for it.

"You all packed already?" Nina asked, leaning against the doorframe with her arms crossed.

"Almost," I said, shrugging as I pulled out some more clothing from the closet.

"You know, the ball's tomorrow night," she told me, looking at her nails as if they were more interesting than me. They probably were, in her opinion, but I didn't complain. "We could convince dad to let you go, since you're leaving in a few days."

"You really think he's gonna let me?" I huffed my annoyance, looking up at her through my thick lashes. "You're lucky you manipulated your way out of this house, but ever since then, his hold on me's been tripled."

"It's one night," she said, "I want you there. I want to have fun with my baby sister before she leaves for good."

Honestly, I'd wanted to go to one of the annual parties for as long as I could remember. So after I'd agreed with a nod, my sister grabbed my hand and pulled me through the house and down to dad's study, where he spent most of his time when he was home. The heavy scent of cigar smoke made my nostrils burn as we entered—Nina didn't even bother knocking.

Dad's partner, Hank, sat on one of the leather chairs facing the too-old wooden desk with a glass of whiskey on the armrest. He was good looking for a man his age, but his dark cheek was mangled with a jagged scar, making him more disturbing to look at. Still, he was as nice as they came. Dad, on the other hand, was rough around the edges with the aging clearly evident on his face.

He was handsome when he was young, I'd seen pictures of him and mom growing up, but now he looked worn and troubled. Like a man who never smiled, his lips turned down in a chronic frown.

"What can I do for my princesses today?" dad asked, leaning back as he looked up at us.

Nina still held my hand, and said, "I want to take Elina to the ball tomorrow." Dad opened his mouth—no doubt to protest—but Nina continued before he could say anything. "She's leaving us all in just a couple of days, dad, I want to make our last days count. I want to spend time with her, I want to have fun!"