Page 5 of In Love After Office Hours

I paled.

Dr. Fergus was wrong.

But even worse than that, my father knew.

Father knew.

Our eyes met again.

Oh yes, Father knew.

“Dr. Fergus wrote a letter, you know,” Daniel said conversationally. “He gave it to a couple of important people and because of that letter, I will never be able to teach young children how to dance again. In that letter, he said that I was forcing you to dance and that he feared I would make you dance even when you were hurting.”

He reached out for me, and I flinched before I could stop myself.

“Oi, what’s that?” Daniel gave me a mock frown. “Are you afraid of your own father?”

Yes.

I whispered, “No.”

He stared at me for a long time before nodding. “I thought so.” He leaned back against his chair. “He was wrong, wasn’t he?”

No.

I whispered, “Yes.”

“I tried to tell them it was so, but none of them believed me. They didn’t know you like I do. Right, Serenity?”

No.

I began to tremble. “Yes.”

“You really want to dance, don’t you?”

No.

Tears choked my throat. “Yes.”

My father began to pull out something of his pocket.

I began to feel scared.

And then I saw what it was, and I could no longer breathe.

“Father——”

He smiled, right before pressing a gun to the side of his head.

“FATHER, NO—-”

“What a liar you are.”

Daniel pulled the trigger.