As soon as I arrived home, I was told to meet my parents in the den for a chat. And when I asked what for, the caretakers couldn't say. I knew they would get in trouble if I didn't listen, so I reluctantly followed orders and made my way over. There, my mother sat on the leather couch, and scrolled through her phone nonchalantly while my father stared out the bay window.
I sat a good distance away from my mother on the same couch. "What's going on?" I asked them.
My father made his way around the front of his work desk and leaned against it to face me. "Tell me why both my children are keen on embarrassing me at Jackheights," he said sternly.
Tension filled the room. No, it was there before I walked in, but I was so used to the uneasy feeling, I had become accustomed to it. I held my father's gaze and tried to read his mind. He always did this when he was upset, he always hinted at the problem, but never came out and accused us of anything until we admitted to our own shortcomings. I had to think long and hard about what Loyal and I could have done to embarrass him. Wait. He put emphasis on both, which meant this had nothing to do with my brother. Loyal already embarrassed him when he took the family to court and refused his trust fund.
"You heard I dropped out of the presidential run," I concluded. That had to be it. What else could it be? Unless they found out about Loyal's side business. No. They couldn't have. I couldn't acknowledge it even if they had. I had to protect my brother's secret.
My mother feigned laughter from beside me. "He's talking about your relationship with Zander Easton."
Goosebumps covered me. "Excuse me?" I asked.
"I don't understand why you felt like you couldn't tell us about him," my mother went on. "But if you were going to keep it under wraps then you should have done a better job. Do you realize how mortifying it was to hear about it straight from the board members?"
"Katrina," my father sighed. "We agreed not to ambush her."
I didn't know what was worse, them learning about my brother's side business or finding out I was romantically involved with the playboy? My parents never bothered with the administrative site. They never took interest in the school unless it for their own personal gain. I didn't want to talk about this. I wasn't mentally prepared to be shamed for having a life that didn't reflect well on the family name.
My mother's eyes flared. "You want me to sit back and wait for her to come clean? Have you met our children, Ryan? They're tactful with the truth."
"And who do you think they get that from?" my father retorted.
My mother shook her head and put her phone away, ready to start fight. "We broke up," I blurted, in hopes of stopping her. "I'm not seeing him anymore, so you don't need to worry about it."
"That is precisely the problem," my father added, crossing his arms. I blinked indifferently until he clarified. "Zander Easton comes from a very prestigious family, a family who has unmatched connections in the finance world. This includes brokers and lenders. If he has taken an interest in you then you should do your best to make that relationship work."
My heart sank and my stomach churned. I was ready to throw-up. It shouldn't come as a surprise to me that they cared more about selling me off for profit rather than see me achieve my own goals, and yet his words stabbed me.
"And what if I don't want to make it work?" I asked, my eyes glistening. Having my parents tell me to get back with the playboy made me want to do the opposite.
"We suggest that you do," my mother chimed in. "You already dropped out of the run for presidency, caused a scandal, and embarrassed the Wilson name. The least you can do is—"
"You don't even know why we broke up," I interrupted her. "You have no idea why I chose to walk away from that relationship, but none of that matters, does it?"
My parents went quiet.
"What if it was something inexcusable?" I asked, unable to stop the tears from falling down my cheeks. "What if he did horrible and awful things? Would none of that matter as long as you gained a capable son-in-law?"
My father stood up straight. "Did he force himself on you?" he asked, finally taking his role as a parent seriously.
"Of course he didn't," my mother intervened. "She's being dramatic, as per usual."
I glared daggers at the woman who birthed me. "And you wonder why Loyal left? You wonder why he was so unhappy living under this roof? You two might be able to fake relationships and stay together when you're better off divorcing but Loyal and I are not like that."
I rushed out of the den before my mother could slap me for speaking so rudely to her. I ran upstairs and shut myself in my bedroom. I sunk to the floor behind the door and cried into my knees. I resented Loyal for leaving me with them. I resented him for plotting without me. He said he did it so our parents would finally see me as their favourite, as the only child worthy of inheriting the family business, but that wasn't going to happen. Not in this lifetime. His efforts were wasted. My existence was wasted. I was nothing but a nuisance to them, and no matter what I did, it would never be good enough.
I quietly wailed.
Just then my phone buzzed in my blazer. I wiped my eyes and pulled it out of my pocket to read a message from my social media account.
'Wade Cainan has sent you a friend request.'