MY TEARS RICOCHET - TAYLOR SWIFT
"we gather stones, never knowing what
they'll mean; some to throw, some
to make a diamond ring."
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My heels clacked on the driveway of my parent's house, my steps were staggered due to the reckless activity of last night. I could barely walk in a straight line, let alone keep my mind off of Angelo, and his insanely large dick.
Mae was right, the best way to forget was sex, because by the morning I had forgotten all about Nathan. Nothing could compare to the pleasure that I felt in the car last night.
It was currently 6:42PM , and my parents had invited me over for 6:00PM. I guess being on time wasn't exactly my defining trait.
The water spilling out of the fountain behind me played in the background between my thoughts. I had no idea why I was invited over back to my parent's house, but by the tone of my mother's voice, it seemed pretty urgent.
As I walked further up, I noticed a black SUV pull up in front of the black metal gates that had just closed. With tinted windows and everything, it looked like one of those kidnapping vans. I couldn't even see the man in the driver's seat. I wondered what they were doing there.
I began to pick up my pace towards the massive white double doors, and before I could even ring the doorbell, my mother had already turned the knob and opened the doors for me. She ushered me inside with her eyes full of relief. "Come, Violet." She muttered quietly.
What the hell?
I stepped onto the marble tile flooring of the house with my mother right behind me. Everything seemed normal, I didn't understand why she was so paranoid. Apart from the car parked outside and my mother's behaviour, it was all habitual.
"Mom, what's going on?" I asked her, confused. She guided me towards my father's office by the small of my back in a hurry, her long brown hair following her movements. My steps could barely keep up with her own, and the sound of our shoes on the cold tiles echoed throughout the tall ceilings. She didn't answer my question, and I could only be lead to think that it was something to do with my father.
Knowing my him, he had probably fumbled a client and was in some insurmountable amount of trouble. "Mom?" I asked again. Finally, she turned to look at me. Her green eyes were painted with panic and nervousness. My heart began to beat faster with anticipation.
There were a thousand things that she could say. The firm could be going bankrupt, my father could have gambled off the most of my inheritance, anything. Instead, my mother sat me down on the chair in front of my father's desk, sitting in the other one right next me.
"Mom." I pleaded for the third time, somewhat desperate for an answer. I had been rushed into the house so fast that I barely even had time to get her any of my thoughts. My mind was still speeding on all of the possibilities of what was happening that I could barely hear her voice.
"Your father has something he needs to ask you." She hesitated, swallowing hard. It had been months since I'd seen her. I moved out earlier in May, I had been too busy to come around. Part of me was also waiting for an invite, but that never came either.
After the Law Firm had set off, my parent's marriage had deteriorated. My parents could barely speak to each other, let alone look each other in the eyes. It was honestly like living with two strangers. They lived in the same house, but in different rooms. They spoke, just never to each other.
The whole situation was so complicated, yet I never had the heart to ask what made it that way. I didn't understand why they would continue to live together if they didn't love each other anymore; but I guess it wasn't exactly my place to wonder.
"Something to do with the firm?" I tilted a head. She gave me a small shrug. "Something like that." Her expression hinted that it had nothing to do with the firm. I didn't know why she couldn't be the one to tell me, but whatever. I also didn't know why she seemed so on edge of it was just a question.
Seconds later, my father entered the room. His hair had began to fade to shades of grey rather than black from the last time I'd seen him, and his face had started to age. He would be around 50 by now. "Oh, Violet. You're here." Was the first thing to come out of his mouth. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. "Where else would I be? London?" I joked, but my father couldn't have cared less.
Okay.
"You're late." He remarked. It was typical, honestly. I swore, he couldn't see me for anything more than a disappointment. I just knew he'd treat me differently if I were a son.
I ignored him and he brushed off the sleeves of his black blazer as he approached the office chair behind his desk. "You've held up." He commented as he looked me up and down. I purposefully wore something sophisticated and modest. I couldn't bare him commenting about how I need to present myself better.
I wore a cream square neck top, with a black mini skirt and black heels. I had even included a gold necklace with a ruby gemstone he had gifted me for Christmas last year.
"You look decent." I directed back. The man nodded and leaned back into his office chair. What a strange way to communicate with your daughter, but whatever.
"I suppose I should tell you why you're here." He sighed while I listened impatiently.
I could see my mother's finger's tap against the arm rest of the chair she was sitting in. I had noticed that she usually did this when she was nervous or was conflicted. In a way, I took after her fiddling. Whenever I found myself in situations with immaculate tension, I would play with whatever jewelry I had on. Whether that be a bracelet or a ring, something had to be spinning in between my fingers for me to remain focussed.
"I have a rather major ask for you." He rested both elbows on the sleek wood of his desk. There wasn't a stray loose paper in sight, and it bugged me how organized he was. My mother began to shake her head. "Lucian-"
My father interrupted her before she could finish. "Verena." He warned strictly. My mother tilted her head and pursed her lips while giving him some kind of glare.
"Not an ask." He paused. "A demand."
I sucked in a breath. A demand from my father wasn't something from out of the ordinary, but for both him and my mother to be nervous about it was something else. The promise ring that Nathan had given me spun around my index finger hundreds of times in the silence that followed. It might've been bad that I felt like laughing.
"Lucian, this is not what we discussed." My mother finished her sentence from before while raising her voice a little. It was rare for her to show any form close to anger or aggravation. She was usually quite soft spoken and kept to herself.
My father only became irritated. "Violet is an adult, so she should be able to take this like one. She does not need the sugarcoating, Verena." The man expressed, clenching his fists. "Yeah? Well seen as you're the one who has put her in this position, I don't think you exactly get a say in this." My mother spoke against him.
I definitely got her attitude.
I blinked, and then blinked again. I had never seen my parents argue in front of me. I knew they fought, but they usually did it while I was gone or was away. I knew they didn't want to suck me into whatever was pulling them apart.
"Can you just tell me already?" I blurted out. I was already impatient and the fact that there was no noise in this room made me want to scream. My mother darted her eyes in a threatening manner to my father. He rolled his eyes like a teenager.
"You recall when your grandfather passed, and we received an.. inheritance?" He asked.
Of course I remembered. That was literally the reason why we lived in a fucking mansion. "Mhm." I mumbled.
"There was no inheritance."
What the fuck? What the hell did he mean by 'no inheritance?' How else could we have afforded this house? How could my father afford a whole law firm? My mother pulled my hand from out of my lap and clutched it in her own. Was someone dying?
"Instead, I made a deal for the money. 10 million dollars to start a law firm that would provide counselling for- for a bad man; and the exchange for the money.." My father outstretched his hands along the wood desk. "Was for my only daughter to marry his only son, Dominic D'Angelo, on her 21st birthday."
Nothing could have prepared me for the words that came out of his mouth. I honestly didn't even believe them. I couldn't. What kind of man would sell off his daughter for money?
A scoff escaped from my lips. "You can't be serious." The sound of my voice hitched with laughter and shock. I could feel a lump start to form in my throat as I pressed my tongue to the top of my mouth. The chair I sat in suddenly felt uncomfortable and unfamiliar. Maybe my derealization was hitting a little too hard.
"I'm not getting married." I shook my head. The words sounded so surreal to me; but it was true. I wasn't, I couldn't, I wouldn't. I wasn't even 21 yet. "You don't have a choice, Violet." My father sounded impatient with me. "And frankly, you shouldn't be arguing with me about this. Think about what this opportunity has provided you with. You won't have to work a day in your life because this decision."
This was unbelievable. I swore, my jaw was on the floor. "This wasn't for me, this was for you." I stood up from my chair. "You were the one who wasn't happy with what you already had, and didn't even care about the consequences. You only cared about yourself and the money; this was never about me. You've never even respected me."
Suddenly he got up from his own seat and smacked the palm of his hand on his desk. I flinched at the sudden movement and the loud noise that the contact had made. My father had never shown any violence towards me or my mother, but something about me talking back to him and swearing made me feel like it was something that would set him off.
"Respect is earned. I've had it with you, Violet. Never once in your life have we asked anything of you, and never once have you shown any gratitude for what I have made for you."
A forced laugh escaped from me once again. The audacity of that man, I wanted to punch him. "You two can't even look each other in the eyes, and you want that for your only daughter?" I asked, referring the relationship of my mother and father. "You want that kind of marriage for me?"
"Honey—" I cut off my mother. It only made it worse that she couldn't even bare herself to say anything. I could see the tears form in her eyes as I looked at her. My legs began to tremble as I started to step out from my father's office. "I'm done with this conversation."
"You can tell Dominic D'Angelo that he can shove whatever thoughts he had on this marriage up his ass, because I'm not marrying him." I rolled my eyes at the thought of his stupid name.
My father stood up and put his foot down. "Don't you dare walk out of this house, Violet." However by the time he said that, I was already opening the front doors with tears swelling in my eyes.
How could he seriously think that I would be okay with this? In what world would anyone be okay with this?
When I opened the doors, I was met by two brunette, bulky men in suits. They looked like brothers. What was this? A Men In Black movie?
"Excuse me." I said politely and attempted to pass through them. The taller one on my right quickly caught my arm. Just as quickly, the man to my left caught my other arm.
"Let go of me." I tried to yank my arm from out of their grasp, but their hold on me was too strong. Instead of leading me outside, like I thought these asshole kidnapped might do, they lead my back inside of the house.
"Dad?" I asked, confused and betrayed.
"Like I said, you don't have a choice. You will meet Dominic and his father tomorrow night whether you like it or not."
I kicked, and screamed, and hit the two men but they didn't let go of me, instead they carried me up the hardwood stairs, into my room, and locked me in.
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A/N.
omg! who would have thought ?!