Page 4

Four

Hailey

One Year Later – 17 years old

“Because I don’t want to go, isn’t that good enough?”

My dad’s palm smacked the doorframe to my room, and I flinched.

“Watch how you talk to me,” he hissed. “We made commitments, and you will fucking honor them.”

“ We? What about me, huh? What about what I want?” The tone of my voice reflected my disbelief at his demand.

“You’re going to do what’s best for our family. It’s just one date. After all we’ve done for you, you’ll survive doing this for us. It’s not like I’m asking you to do anything outrageous.” He fixed me with a piercing stare.

“It’s always just one date . And then there’s the next one, and the next one. I can’t believe you agreed to this — again. I don’t even know the guy!” I accused him, shaking my head .

“You can’t back out of this. You’re going to go on this date, and you’re going to present yourself, our family, appropriately. Do we understand each other?”

His razor-sharp tone straightened my spine. Before, when we were a normal family, he wouldn’t have dreamed of talking to me like that. So cold, so detached.

A block of ice sat heavily in my stomach as I met his ruthless gaze. “Yes, I understand,” I murmured.

“Wonderful.” He clapped his hands, rubbed them together, suddenly in high spirits again, and turned to leave without another word.

What was there to say? His wayward puppet was dancing again.