Chapter 19

Cameron’s POV

I trailed behind my father as he led me into the study, the heavy door shutting with a loud thud behind me. The sound echoed in my chest, like a reminder I couldn’t leave until he was done tearing me apart. The room smelled of leather and stale whiskey, the lingering scent of cigars hanging in the air like a ghost.

He didn’t look at me. Not at first. He walked to the bar cart in the corner, poured himself a glass of whiskey, and stood there, swirling the glass like he had all the time in the world. The ice clinked against the glass, the sound sharp in the suffocating silence.

I stood rigid, my fingers twitching by my side.

“Sit,” he ordered, not bothering to turn around.

I sat on the edge of the chair, my back straight. The leather creaked under my weight, the sound obnoxiously loud in the tense room. My pulse thudded in my ears, drowning out everything but the crushing weight of his presence.

Finally, he turned, leaning against the desk as he took a slow sip of his drin