I stared at him with a blank expession, unsure that i'd heard him correctly.
"What?"
He slightly frowned, repeating himself.
"We had to get rid of all the staff--the gardeners, kitchen duty, everything. We can barely afford to keep this house, let alone pay a staff."
When I said nothing, he continued. "I've...made some mistakes that I couldn't afford to refurbish. We're gonna have to cut way back, Camille."
I finally found my voice. "Cut back?"
He nodded solemnly. "We can't continue to support our lifestyle. We're gonna have to sell some valuables, and place some boundaries just to become financially stable."
My mom had began to full-on cry at this point, and I couldn't even find my usual strength to reassure he that everything would be fine.
"Daddy, what happened? What mistakes could you have made to cause us to become completely broke?!"
He gave me a stern look, and I lowered my voice. "What mistakes?"
He sighed and shook his head. "Camille, there's some things that I'd rather not discuss. You may not understand, and I apologize for putting both you and your mother in this predicament, but I need you to try your best to help us through this."
I furrowed my eyebrows together as my mother spoke.
"Predicament? William, do you realize that everything we have will be stripped away from us? I can't believe you! When this is over, we won't even have a clean pot to piss in!"
I flinched at her tone. Her hand shook as she placed the cigarette back to her lips. "I think we atleast deserve an explanation, dammit!"
My dad hit the top of his desk in frustration, causing for both my mother and I to become silent.
"I'm trying my best, alright Dana?! What do you want me to do? If it weren't for some of my mistakes, we wouldn't be living on this big ass estate. You wouldn't be taking all of these unneccessary shopping trips to Paris, or buying bottles of $10,000 wine!"
I was confused, but afraid to question any further. I wasn't sure if I could handle the truth, whatever it was. After sitting in about 10 minutes of silence, and our own individual thoughts, my father spoke again.
"We can't afford the living expenses of your apartment building anymore, Camille. You'll have to move back home. Now, your car's been paid for in full, but all the cards--credit, debit, black....they've been cancelled-"
I couldn't bare to hear the rest, but before I could open my mouth to protest, he cut me off, holding up his hand. "Now, I know you're worried about school, but that's taken care of. You won't have to drop out. The dean is a close friend of mine, and I spoke with him about allowing you to continue to pursue your major. He should be calling back with the details soon."
As if on cue, his office phone rang out, causing for my stomach to drop. He answered it, gestruing for me to hold on. His fcial expression altered something serious as the conversation progressed.
"What? No, i'm sure there's been some mistske.....alright....yes, thank you."
When he hung up, the expression on his face was nothing less than livid.
"You were with drawn from all of you classes-"
I gently bit my lip, unsure of what to say. "Daddy, I can explain-"
He gave me a look of pure disappointment as my mom spoke. "Camille, what have you been doing with the extra funding that you recieve each month?"
I shook my head, not wanting to stir any further drama. "I know you want me to follow in your footsteps, daddy, but I can't. I wanna open my own salon. I've been taking classes at-"
He wouldn't even look at me as he spoke. "Get out."
I stared at him in shock. "Dad-"
"Get out!" The venom in his voice caused for me to jump. My mom stood, making her way over to us.
"William...."
He held his hand up. "I don't wana hear it, Dana. You will not act like what's she's done is okay."
He then turned to me. "I've worked my entire life to get you to this position....to see you further yourself and graduate college. And you tell me that you've with-drawn yourself to become a hair stylist. You're a disgrace; I refuse to support you in your mistakes, financially, or emotionally."
I could feel tears beginning to form. He'd never spoken to me like that before; with such hatred, and degrading word choices. It'd always been love, and compassion.
"Daddy-"
"Leave." He began to sort through papers, not bothering to look in my direction. "Unless you can scrounge up a source of income, you'll be living on the street."
My mother began defending me, but I didn't wait to hear the argument. I swiftly made my way down the long corridor, wiping my tear streaked face. I snatched my purse from its position before making my way out the door and down the path, where my car sat. I could barely see through the blurr of my own tears as I struggled to place the key into the ignition.
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I sat in my large walk-in closet, staring at the many articles of clothing it held. All of a sudden, it all seemed so pointless. The more I stared, the more I realized that I didn't need any of the junk. I had the sudden urge to rip every last piece from its hanger. I couldn't even muster up the courage to go into my shoe closet. My phone had been ringing none stop, but I refused to answer it. I wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone. I rolled my eyes, which I was sure were puffy, as someone began banging on my door. I stood, sniffling, before making my way to the front door. I stood on my tip-toes, glancing out of the peep hole, where Gio was standing, looking as if she were about to have an anxiety attack. I swung the door open, turning on my heels as she clambered through, holding TJ's hand.
"Turn on the news!"
I gave her a straight-face, dabbing at my eyes as she sent TJ to the back to play with whatever toys he'd managed to bring along.
"Gio, i'm not-"
She pushed past me and grabbed the remote to my mantled flat screen, flipping to the news. I was speechless at the sight before me as the reporter spoke.
"The body of 20 year old Zachary Wilson was found, severly disunited in the trunk of an abandoned suv, just this morning. Coroners were barely able to identify the body, as the face was badly mangled. Detectives state that no witnesses have been located, or taken into custody at this time."
I looked at Gio, confused, as she stared at me with a worried expression. Then, it all hit me like a ton of bricks. Zachary Wilson. Mack.
