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Now, he thinks he’s losing me, too.

I step into camera field of the holo-vid.

“Dad,” I plead. “Please. Accept the meeting. I don’t want there to be a rift between us.”

He stares at me blankly.

“Did you really do it? Did you really tell them to kidnap you? Did you really think I was holding you as a prisoner, against your will?” My father’s face is a mask of anguish. “Gods, Natali – I swear, I just wanted to keep you safe!”

“It doesn’t matter,” I promise him. “That’s all in the past now, father. Please – just meet with Brennan tomorrow. I’ll be there, too. We can find a way to move beyond this.”

The sadness in his eyes hurts me.

“Natali, I can never forgive the men who stole you from me – and I can never forgive myself for making you want them to take you away.”

A knot tightens in my belly.

“Please,” I beg.

He sighs. “Very well. Ten o’clock, standard time.”

Then, he abruptly cuts off the feed.

I didn’t want to think about him, or the rift I’d caused between us.

I’ve told a lie that paints him as a jailor and a control freak. Courtroom feeds can be seen across the planet. His reputation will be tarnished by my words…

…but I made my choice, and I have to live with it now. I can forgive him for keeping me behind those towering walls. He just wanted to keep me safe. Only, now I know what the world is like outside.

Now, I know I can never go back to the way things were.

I just hope my father can find a way to let me go, while still being in my life.

“You better know what you’re doing,” I say to Brennan – and suddenly, I need to be alone.

I walk down the hallways, finding a room with a bed small enough that it clearly doesn’t belong to an Aurelian. I lie on the bed, fingering that cursed Orb-Ring.

IknowI made the right choice to be with my triad.

I just hope I made the right choice in setting up a meeting with my father tomorrow.

What if he snaps?

What if he massacres Brennan, Otho, and Lazar – before I can even feel the Bond again?

18

Brennan

Ipilot the Reaver slowly towards the estate. Natali is a nervous, anxious mess as she sits next to me. As much as her mental state pains me, I wish I could feel it through the Bond, rather than just read it in her expression. I wish I truly knew how she felt – because I’m taking a great risk coming back here.

Her father has had barely a day to cool off.

The Bond disrupter is still affixed around Natali’s finger. This afternoon, it will finally be gone. It’s something that I know her father put on her – he wanted to control her.

He still does.

An old man’s rage festers. He’s still in his middle age, but with time, the wounds that we caused Mr. Carani will grow only colder and more bitter. Natali will never have the closeness of family again; something that even we cannot give her.