Page 3 of Timeless Pages

Chapter three

Isa

F ather’s fingers dug into my arm painfully, and I bit the inside of my cheek to keep myself from showing just how badly it hurt. I refused to give him the satisfaction of my pain, but more so, if I let on that he was hurting me in front of these men, I’d be in for it for sure.

“Isabella has been running the store alongside Jason, but now that he’s gone, it’s simply too much for her to handle alone. Isn’t that right, Isabella?” Father squeezed my arm harder when I didn’t immediately agree with him.

“Umm, yes, that’s correct,” I replied dutifully. I knew how to play this game and knew nothing was more critical to Father than his image. He'd punish me if I weren’t one hundred percent convincing, so I also added what I hoped was a convincing smile.

How has my life reverted to the way it used to be so quickly?

I thought I had escaped this, yet here I was, participating in the familiar dance of my childhood where every nuance of my expression, word, and movement would be calculated to determine how much I embarrassed him and, therefore, needed to pay with my blood.

I felt myself slip back into the old me and wanted to throw up as the familiar anxiety grew in the pit of my stomach in anticipation of my subsequent punishment.

Nathan kept staring at me with his cold blue eyes, which added to my discomfort. Why wouldn’t he look away? I felt like he could see right to my soul—that everything I was laid bare to him. I didn’t like it. What’s more, I knew my father wouldn’t either.

“A pretty thing like you shouldn’t be hidden away in a dusty old bookstore,” Dominic teased, his green eyes twinkling with mischief.

I recognized the blond-haired playboy more easily than I had his partners because every other day, his picture was splashed across the front page of every paper in Sunflower Falls for whatever latest scandalous dalliance he was involved in.

Even if I might not have recognized the other two on the street, I knew who they were.

The three owned DEN Tower Corporation, a real estate conglomerate that owned most of Sunflower Falls’ business district and every other property on my block.

When I saw the for-sale sign, I knew they would be the first to show up here.

They had been after this place for years and might just succeed.

I barely held back a hiss as Father’s hand tightened even more. He didn’t appreciate Dominic flirting with me, even though I had no control over it, nor had I encouraged it in any way.

“Isabella, don’t you have something more suited to your abilities to do?” Father asked. “I need to conduct some business now, which would confuse you.”

I gritted my teeth at his condescension. It would never occur to him that I wasn’t a blithering idiot incapable of stringing more than five words together. It never occurred to him that I ran the bookstore and did the books. That’s ok. Let him underestimate me. That way, he’ll never see me coming.

I forced myself to smile as I excused myself.

“I do need to take care of some things. Have a nice day,” I said.

I tried to turn and walk away, but Father’s hold on me remained ironclad.

When I looked up at him in confusion, he smiled in a way that likely appeared to be doting.

He bent down a little to present his cheek to me.

I knew what he wanted. I had forgotten that we used to play a little game where he would force me into public displays of affection, so that I would look and act like the loving daughter I was supposed to be.

I stretched up and kissed his cheek without letting my disgust show, and as soon as I did, he released me.

I quickly turned away from them and put as much distance between us as possible as I rubbed my aching arm.

I escaped to my quarters and dug out the list of lawyers I had hidden there.

I needed to start fighting the conservatorship before it was too late to save the store or myself.