Page 30 of My Rules for Revenge (Twisted YA Mysteries #1)

I always wished my father weren’t such a bad guy. I wish he were a simple man with simple needs. A dad who went home after work to eat dinner with his family and relaxed afterwards by watching TV. But nooo ! He had to be a total asswipe of a parent.

One night, when he hadn’t arrived home yet, I found out what he was doing.

He’d left his laptop on top of his desk in his bedroom.

Usually, it was never there, but he had made a grave mistake—he had gotten careless.

He never thought I would dare go through his things, but I didn’t care what he thought anymore.

The laptop was open and unlocked, and I took the opportunity to investigate what my mother suspected. It was a modern laptop, so it had the same text messages he had on his smartphone, and I doubt he even knew this was a thing. Old people were clueless when it came to that stuff.

A lot of companies that offer online accounts as well as social media apps require emails and phone numbers to link their users to their accounts and profiles. It was getting a lot harder to hide the things you didn’t want other people to see—the bad little secrets you wanted deeply buried.

After a brief search, my heart sank. It didn’t take long to find the other woman he was seeing.

Her name was Linda Newman. He didn’t try to hide it.

I only had to read a few sexually explicit messages before I slammed the laptop shut in complete disgust. I rushed to the bathroom, and my stomach erupted.

I tasted straight hell as I violently vomited into the toilet.

When I was finished, I sat down on the floor and wept.

It turned out that Principal Newman wasn’t the only one cheating on his wife.

It ran in the family. I wanted to smash his laptop into a thousand pieces right then and there, but I restrained myself.

I thought about what to do. If I confronted my father about it, he would deny it and grow furious.

He would use his anger as a reason to blow me off, and he would argue as to why I was going through his stuff.

I had him down to a science. I still needed to do something, though.

I snapped pictures with my phone of all the revolting and graphic texts he’d sent. Then, I met my mother in the living room and sat her down. I told her that she was right and showed her the texts he sent to Linda Newman. She began to sob uncontrollably. I consoled her as best I could.

That was one of the worst things that ever happened to us. I remembered my stomach badly hurting and my chest feeling tight that entire week. My heart felt like it was being strangled. The man who was supposed to nurture, love, and protect us had committed the ultimate betrayal.

After she calmed down, I managed to convince her to confront him with me. He needed to be punished for what he did. I deliberately took a page out of Heather’s book. I wanted revenge for what he did to us. Our family became broken because of him. It would only heal if he were out of the picture.

We patiently waited for him to come home.

I told my mom that I would be the one talking and that if she had anything to add, she was more than welcome to do so.

She warned me that he would not take it very well.

I knew this already, but it needed to be done.

Even if it turned out to be the most uncomfortable conversation I’ve ever had.

He arrived just after midnight and was surprised to see both of us still awake. I asked him to take a seat because there was something that we needed to talk to him about. He reluctantly complied.

“What’s wrong? Why are you still awake, Indira? You have school tomorrow,” he pointed out.

“Listen, there’s no easy way to say this, but…we know you’ve been seeing another woman,” I remarked.

He rapidly blinked and lightly chuckled.

“What? What are you talking about? I’m married to your mother. I would never do anything like that. I would never think about doing something like that,” he assured.

“Why have you been coming home late the last few months, then?”

“I have late-night meetings at work,” he explained.

“You never had them before,” I exclaimed.

“Now we do. Things change,” he added.

“I find that very hard to believe.”

“It’s the truth. Look, this is ridiculous. I’m exhausted from work, and I need to go to sleep.”

As he was about to stand up, my mother made him sit back down.

“You told me you were late because of the late-night traffic. What late-night meetings are you talking about? You’ve never mentioned this before,” she said.

My father scrunched his face and rubbed his forehead. He appeared to be frustrated.

“It’s both, okay? There’s late-night traffic and late-night meetings. Why do I feel like I’m being interrogated? I’m not seeing another woman. The two of you are acting crazy,” he said.

“Are you sure that’s the story you want to go with?” I asked.

“What? What story? What are you talking about? That’s the truth. Don’t talk to me in that disrespectful tone. You need to control her.”

He squarely pointed at my mother, who placed her hand on my shoulder.

“She’s just talking to you. There’s no need to get upset,” she said nicely.

“I’m upset because she’s accusing me of being unfaithful to you,” he replied.

“Her name is Linda Newman,” I announced.

My father’s mouth clamped shut, and he remained silent. I took out my phone and sent him the evidence I had compiled.

“Look at your phone.”

He did as I ordered, and his face twisted in despair. He clenched his fists and punched the wall next to him.

“I don’t know what that is. What you sent me is garbage, and it’s not real. It’s not me. Someone’s trying to frame me. It’s all lies,” he defended.

“I got it from your laptop. The texts are yours. There’s no escaping the truth. You’re cheating on Mom, and you need to admit it,” I demanded.

“You’ve been snooping around my computer? When did you turn into such an insolent child? You’ve always been respectful and obedient. What has gotten into you?” he asked.

“You’re the sole reason I’m acting like this. Admit that you’re cheating on her. I want you to confess right now like a man,” I demanded.

“Excuse me? I am a man. I provide for both of you. What is this bullshit? You’re lucky I don’t throw you down the stairs,” he shouted.

“We don’t need to do that. Okay, I think this is getting a bit out of hand. Sweetie, let’s drop it. We’re all tired, and we should go to sleep,” she suggested.

I felt my heart drop, and I began to shake with anger.

“We’re not going to solve this by going to sleep. You can’t run away from your problems. This is serious. I don’t want him living here anymore,” I said angrily.

“Indira, you are crossing way too many lines. I am your father,” he remarked.

“You’re having dirty, disgusting sex with Linda Newman behind my mother’s back. You’re no longer my father. You’re nothing to me,” I exclaimed.

He quickly picked up a vase and threw it across the room. My mother screamed as it shattered.

“No, I’m not,” he said with certainty.

“You’re lying. Admit it! Confess!”

My father briefly closed his eyes and took in a deep breath, and exhaled loudly.

“Okay,” he replied.

“Okay?” I asked with shock.

My father sucked in his lips and looked away from us.

“If you want to be done with me, you can be,” he said as he shrugged.

“What?” I asked.

“Honey, what are you saying?” she asked.

“If you don’t want anything to do with me anymore, that’s fine,” he assured us.

“Will you leave the house then?” I asked.

“Absolutely not. I live here,” he replied.

“I don’t want you here. I want you to move out!” I yelled.

“Indira, you are out of your mind,” he remarked.

“If you don’t leave within one week, I’ll blackmail you. I’ll spread the screenshots of the text messages to our entire family, your friends, and your coworkers. You’ll be completely exposed. No one will respect you anymore. You will be completely humiliated,” I threatened him.

“Oh, really? You’re going to expose me for something I didn’t do.”

“You’re an insufferable liar!” I exclaimed.

“I’m not leaving the house, Indira. I’m staying right here with my family. Right, Claudia?” he asked.

“Yes, that’s right,” she said.

I gave her a disappointed look as she turned away with tears in her eyes.

“I don’t know what high school drugs you’re taking, but I’ll forgive you for this crazy-girl behavior. Just make sure you don’t bring this up again,” he offered.

“How can you do this, Mom? You know he’s lying, and you’re not saying anything,” I criticized.

She remained silent.

“I pay the house bills and her online classes, and I’ll be helping you out with your college costs. This is a marriage of convenience, Indira. Your mother knows it, I know it, and it’s time for you to know it. Do you understand me?” he asked.

I looked at my mother one last time. I begged her to back me up with my eyes. She simply got up, squeezed my shoulder, and walked away.

“I now know everything I needed to know about this family.”

My nails deeply dug into my palm as I tightly clenched my fists. It hurt, but I didn’t care. There was nothing I could do. I felt completely helpless. Now, it seemed like I was the one who tried to blow up my family and not him.

I was in a complete daze, and nothing made sense.

My mother fell right into his slimy, manipulative hands as always.

He did pay for everything, though, so it was very difficult to escape that.

Realistically, we couldn’t live on our own without jobs, but I just wanted my mother to take my side, and she didn’t.

She did what she always does and blew off her problems, accepted my father’s twisted justifications, and went along with them.

I ultimately understood the reasons why she did, but I still felt sick.

My father had the audacity to open up for a hug. I shoved right past him and went up to my room. I slammed the door shut so hard I loosened the door hinge. I buried my face in my pillow and screamed.