But I couldn’t tell if it was all an act or if he was being sincere. I wanted to believe him. Because he was standing there telling me he loved me. And I didn’t have anyone left in my life that loved me.
“Please don’t cry, angel.”
I tried to wipe away my tears. “If you had just asked me…I would have said yes. I don’t want to lose you too.”
“I’m so sorry.”
I would have given anything to save my mom. My heart was so broken when she died. I’d remembered thinking that if my heart was going to break anyway…that I wished I had given it to her to save her. I never thought I could keep going. But here I was. My heart was still beating. Still broken, but still beating. I wished my mom was here right now. She was so good at reading people. She’d know if my dad was telling the truth. I stared at his face. She’d loved him once. She trusted him once.
But so had I. He’d betrayed her trust and now he’d betrayed mine. I looked down at my lap. The last words I’d said to Matt were hateful. I’d pushed him away. I couldn’t afford to push my dad away too. I wiped away the rest of my tears and stared at him. “Are you feeling better?”
He smiled. “A million times better, thanks to you. I feel like a new man.” He took a deep breath. “But we need to talk about you and the fact that you haven’t been eating.”
That nurse was such a traitor. I’d eaten some applesauce! “I was upset. With you. Why would you just leave me here without any connection to you or the outside world for over a week? I’ve been going crazy. And have you seen my ring? Did Dr. Wilson take it off before the surgery?” That was what I’d been hoping. That Matt didn’t come take it back while I was unconscious. That it was just missing. A missing ring was better than one that had been taken back.
“About that. We have something we need to discuss.”
I pressed my lips together. “Did Matt…did he…” my voice trailed off. “Did he break up with me?”
My dad reached out and grabbed my hand. “It’s over, yes.”
What? “But…I need to talk to him. Can I borrow your cell phone? If I could just explain…”
“It’s going to be a little hard to explain. Actually, it’s going to be impossible. Matthew thinks you’re dead.”
Chapter 9
Saturday
Matt thought I was…dead? I just stared at my dad. I must have misheard him. “Sorry, what did you say?”
“I said that Matthew Caldwell thinks you’re dead. He believes you died during surgery. So unfortunately you can’t call him. That would be confusing for the poor boy.”
“What do you mean he thinks I’m dead?” I touched my chest like I needed the affirmation that I was alive. “I’m fine.”
“Of course. But everyone except for myself, the nurses at this facility, and your bodyguard believe you to be dead. I’ve been planning this for quite some time and was going to discuss it with you. But after the surgery last week you said you wanted to leave the city. So I expedited everything. And here we are.”
“I don’t want everyone to think I’m dead. I need to talk to Matt. And I need to fix things with Kennedy and Felix…”
“I think everything is fixed. Felix is out of jail and all charges have been dropped. He’ll be allowed to go back to Empire High. And as for Kennedy and Matthew…they seemed awfully sad at your funeral. So I’m sure whatever misunderstandings you had with them were laid to rest at your tombstone.”
“How could I have a funeral? I’m right here!”
“It was on Wednesday. A fake funeral is actually an excellent and underutilized way to see who your real friends are. You had quite the attendance. You should be flattered.” He patted my shin.
“I don’t care about who attended my fake funeral. I don’t want to be fake dead. I want…”
“There is no other option, angel. Isabella has been threatening some rather…awful things. I found some plans hidden under her mattress.” He shivered, just thinking about whatever her plans had been. “It’s better if you disappear for a while. We’ll see if everything calms down after she graduates in the spring. Or maybe we’ll be safe and wait five years until she graduates from college as well. She’ll mature immensely in her college years. Certainly she won’t be jealous of you then.”
I didn’t think Isabella hated me because she was jealous. I was pretty sure she hated me and wanted to kill me because she was legit psychotic. “So you told everyone I was dead and had a fake funeral for me, all to make sure Isabella is happy? Dad! We talked about this. I shouldn’t have to change my life when she’s the crazy one. You need to lock her up. Not me.”
“I’m doing what I need to do to keep you safe.”
“I’m not an animal! You can’t keep me in a cage for five years while I wait for my half-sister to stop being murdery!”
He stood, ignoring me. “I’m sorry, but the arrangements have already been made.”
“Then unmake them. I’m not going to pretend to be dead.”
“You said you wanted to disappear, and there’s no going back.”
I’d never used those words. I’d said I wanted to leave. I wanted to be away from him. “You can’t do this…”
“It’s done.” He glanced down at his watch like this conversation was boring him.
“You can’t just leave me here.”
“I’m not leaving you here. As soon as you’re fully recovered we’ll be moving you to a secure location. You’ll have a bodyguard protecting you at all times. I’ve made all the necessary arrangements. You’ll have no contact with the outside world, other than me. You’ll finally be safe.”
Safety and isolation were two very different things. “Please don’t do this.”
“Brooklyn, I’m not doing this to you. I’m doing it for you.”
For me? God, and just like that I was pissed again. For me? Was he kidding? I said I wanted to get away from him after the surgery. Not be trapped in a life with only him in it. “I don’t want anything from you.”
He lowered his eyebrows and lightly touched the side of his stomach like he was in pain.
Was he trying to get out of this conversation by playing the “I’m in pain” card? Maybe a normal daughter would be concerned about the fact that her father was standing in front of her with a cane. But…not me. I wasn’t concerned about his health at all. Besides, he’d be fine. He had my kidney after all. The sympathy card wasn’t working on me.
I opened my mouth and then closed it again when no words came out. He was telling me I had to stay in this room for as long as he deemed fit. This room without windows, where I didn’t know if it was day or night.
All I knew was that…I was terrified of my father. One minute he was caring. And the next he was telling me I was trapped with no way out. I wanted to slap him across the face. But I didn’t dare. Instead I just blinked at him. He’d pacified me with his explanation of the kidney debacle. But keeping me locked up here? There was no explanation I would accept for that. I wished I was brave enough to knee him right in the crotch and make a run for it. “Please just let me go, Dad.” I hated that I’d just called him that. I wanted to throw up.