4

Roxy

“You hit me, Mom.” I kept my hand pressed to my cheek, staring at her.

“I—” She stepped back. “I didn’t mean to do that.”

I didn’t know whether to scream or break down right there on the floor. If only she knew the real reason I wanted to leave this house.

Dorian got up from his seat and walked over to her, taking her trembling hand in his.

“Calm down, honey.” He kissed her knuckles without taking his eyes off me. “She isn’t a child anymore. She’s an adult.”

“An adult?” My mother’s voice cracked. “She’s twenty-three, Dorian. I won’t let her leave me. If she leaves this house, it’ll only be for class.”

“I understand, sweetheart.” His voice stayed soft. “Maybe you should ask her why she wants to move out in the first place.”

The room went quiet.

He was daring me to say it. He wanted me to tell my mother what I had watched him do to her through that gap in the door.

“Roxy.” My mother’s voice softened, and I could see the guilt in her eyes. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“But you did.”

She nodded. “I hit you because you were being disrespectful.”

“I told the truth. My dad is dead.”

Her hand went up again, but Dorian caught her wrist before she could hit me.

“Give her time, Clara. Everything is new to her.”

“She called you Dad yesterday!”

“I know.” He pulled her against his chest and ran a hand through her hair. “Even so, we have to give her time.”

“What changed?” she whispered against his chest, her shoulders shaking. “Everything was fine yesterday, and this morning... Dorian, I can’t let her leave me. What am I supposed to do without her?”

Tears ran down her face, and my chest tightened as I watched her.

“I’m doing all of this for her,” she said. “Why can’t she understand that?”

“She will,” he murmured, stroking her hair. “Don’t do this to yourself.”

I stood there and watched the whole performance. She hadn’t asked me once why I had stopped calling him Dad. Not once.

“I’m leaving for school,” I said, turning before either of them could answer.

I grabbed my bag from my room and came back down the long hallway.

Dorian was waiting by the archway with a glass of wine in one hand. His eyes found me the moment I came around the corner.

“Roxy.” His voice dropped low. “Why the sudden rush to move out?”

“Why?” I asked, using the word to avoid answering him.

He walked slowly toward me and stopped close behind me. I could feel him there before he spoke again.

“Yesterday everything was fine. Today, you suddenly want to leave?”

He said it as if he hadn’t locked eyes with me in the dark less than twelve hours ago.

“Nothing changed,” I said, keeping my back straight. “I need to focus on my exams.”

“Is that right?”

He stepped in front of me, blocking my way.

His eyes moved down my dress slowly, and there was nothing fatherly about the way he looked at me.

“Yes.” I forced myself to keep a straight face.

“Leaving will break your mother’s heart.”

“I’ll hurt her more if I stay.” The words came out sharper than I meant them to. If he wanted to play games, I wasn’t going to make it easy for him.

“You aren’t moving out.” His voice became quiet, which was worse than if he had shouted. “And you won’t be traveling back and forth on your own either.”

“You don’t get to decide that.”

“I am your father now.”

“You are not.”

“David.” He raised his voice slightly.

A man in a neat uniform appeared from the side hallway and bowed his head.

“Sir.”

“Roxy, this is David. Your personal driver.” Dorian turned to him. “David, this is the young miss of the house.”

“Young miss.” David bowed again. “At your service.”

“I don’t need a driver.”

“Of course you do, sweetheart.” Dorian gave me a warm smile, but I didn’t believe it. “David, stay with her at the university until her lectures end.”

“Yes, sir.”

I stood between them and finally understood what this was.

Not protection.

A cage, with the door already closing.