Fraud

Ivy

My father releases me as soon as the front door slams and Harrison appears at the entryway into the sitting room.

“Shall I prepare her room, sir?”

“My room?” I spin to face my dad. “Are you fucking kidding me? I’m not staying here. I’m a grown woman. You can’t-“

Dad’s lips pull into a smirk, his dark eyes stabbing mine. “You’ll do whatever the hell I tell you to do. And I just showed you why. I’m not playing around with this, Ivy.”

He glances above my head at Harrison. “Prepare the room, and then let Mrs. Callahan know I’m ready to go.”

Harrison nods his head and steps away, my jaw slamming shut so hard pain rattles down my jaw.

“You would never leak that tape. How do you even have it? And why am I just now finding out about it?”

Voice a boom of sound that bounces off the walls, my father yells, “I’ve had it since the night after you torched my pavilion. It was just another one of the messes I had to clean up for you, and it’s the primary reason you were shipped off to an all-women’s college. You’re too stupid for your own good. Even now, you keep making decisions that can ruin this family, and I’m not standing for it anymore. Do you have any idea what I had to do to bury that tape?”

“That was ten years ago,” I argue, tears leaking from my eyes that are real this time.

“I’m well aware of when you decided to try and sink my career,” he shouts, spittle flying out of his mouth, his brows tugged together so tight that his face is a mask of anger.

“The only thing I don’t know is why you did it. Although I don’t think I need to ask. Everything you did back then had something to do with Gabriel Dane. I felt it safe to assume that stunt was just like all the others. Getting you away from him was the best thing I did as your father. And now you think you can waltz in my house and a

“He walked away to protect me,” I scream in return, because that’s the one thing I inherited from my father. His hair trigger. A temper that, when tripped, can terrify a normal person.

“You gave him no choice by threatening me. If anybody is using me right now, it’s you. How can you not see that?”

I hate that the tears leaking down my cheeks are real. Both anger at my father and fear that what Gabriel said to me was truth and not just another one of his lies.

On the drive over, the words he used broke me down and rebuilt me all over again. They were as unexpected as they were sincere. There is no way in hell Gabriel is using me, and for my father to claim that is a knife in my gut.

Yes, the engagement is fake, but for some fucking reason it feels real. And I refuse to let my father stand here and tell me I’m being used.

“I’m leaving-“

He snakes his hand out to grab my face, his fingertips digging into my cheeks so hard, I know they’ll bruise. Lowering his face to mine, my father sneers.

“You’ll do as you’re told if you know what’s good for you. I won’t tell you why because it’s none of your fucking business. But what you should know is I’m cleaning up another one of your disasters before you have the chance to ruin everybody’s life because of it. I tried a different approach with you by taking everything away. I gave you the chance to fix this and realize just how awful that boy is. But what did you do? Ran straight to him. Your entire life, Ivy. That’s how long you’ve chased after Gabriel, and if you think nobody knows that, you’re delusional. He’s never been good for you. And the sad fact that you apparently will never see is that you’re nothing but an amusement to him. Something to be tossed aside when he’s done playing his games. I don’t know for sure what he’s after now, but if it’s what I suspect, then you need to stay the fuck out of it.”

When he releases me, I have to step back a few times to keep from falling over. Dad’s eyes glare down at me, disgust rolling behind them for the tears sliding down my cheeks.

Straightening his jacket, my father tugs his cuffs into place and pins me with his dark stare. “Leaking that tape isn’t the worst I can do to you. And it’s definitely not the worst I can do to Gabriel. Don’t fucking try me, Ivy. This is my last warning. If you disobey me again, there will be repercussions.”

Our eyes lock, mine in refusal to do as I’m told and his in promise of destroying everybody who challenges him. It only cements the idea in my head that my father’s hands are buried in something awful, that he’s involved in something so goddamned wrong that he’s willing to destroy his own child to keep it secret.

My father, the man who has always been my hero, is as dirty as the rest of them. Except he hides behind the feigned smile of a politician, his secrets buried beneath shady side dealings and eloquent lies.

The loyalty I once had for him is gone. Burned up. Fucking shredded because I realize I’m just another pawn. A damn trinket he uses to pretend to be a good man.

Behind me, my mother’s soft voice floats into the room.

“Honey, Harrison tells me you’re ready. Oh! Ivy, sweetheart, I didn’t know you’re here.”

I spin around to lock eyes with Mom. She looks beautiful in a pastel blue dress, her blond hair swept up in an elegant twist, diamonds sparkling in her ears and around her neck.

Another trinket, I realize. One that’s perfectly happy to play the part.

“Is everything okay?”

She steps toward me, but my father shoves me aside to meet her before she can reach me.

“We’re late, Allison. We should go.”

“What’s going on?” she asks, her blue eyes darting to me again.

“We’ll discuss it in the car.” Dad drags mom off before I can answer.

Glancing at me from over her shoulder as they leave the room, mom drops the subject, but then she’s always been a social butterfly happy to do as she’s told.

It’s exactly what my father wants me to become.

Fuck that.

And fuck him.

This girl behaves for no one.

I’m wiping the tears from my face when Harrison appears in the doorway again, his expression stoic as ever. Although, this is nothing new. My father and I have fought more times than I can count. Harrison has had plenty of practice controlling his reactions.

Dad was right about one thing, though. Every time we’ve fought, it had something to do with Gabriel. Some aspect of our war that went too far and my father had to clean up.

Only this time, Gabriel is on my side just as much as I’m on his. I refuse to believe he’s given up.

“It’ll be nice having you home for a while, Miss Callahan. You’ve been missed. Is there anything you need before I show you to your room?”

He means my old bedroom. The one with the convenient lock on the outside. My father had that installed when I was in high school. It was just another one of his attempts to control me.

Knowing better than to argue, I force myself to smile sweetly. “Not at all. I guess I should run on upstairs and get ready for bed.”

His lips curl at the corners. “I think that’s wise. Your father insisted you stay put until he gets home from his benefit di

Stalking past him, my heels click over the marble floors. “I can’t believe you’re on his side, Harrison. Even you know this is wrong.”

He’s a silent presence at my back as we head up the stairs, his voice finally breaking into my thoughts when we reach my door.