Page 86 of Your Fault

“It’s not a joke, Mom,” I said, crossing my arms.

She looked at all the suitcases and boxes scattered across the floor.

“I’ve done all I can not to get mixed up in your relationship with Nicholas. I was even willing to accept it. But you’ve crossed a line without thinking once of me or William, and that’s something I’m not willing to tolerate.”

I didn’t like how she was talking to me. She acted like she was talking to a stranger. I realized she was angry, but with that attitude, all her words did were frustrate me further. What gave her the right to tell me how to live?

I was over it.

“This isn’t something I have to talk to you about. It’s my life, and you need to learn to let me make my own mistakes and my own choices.”

“It’ll be your life when you can live independently and you have a good enough job to support yourself, understand?”

That was a low blow, and she knew it. Especially when she was talking about money that wasn’t even hers.

“You’re the one who brought me here!” I shouted, seeing where the conversation was going. “I’m finally happy, I’ve found someone who loves me, and you’re not even capable of being happy for me!”

“I’m not going to let you go live with your stepbrother when you’re just eighteen years old!”

“I’m an adult! When are you going to figure that out?”

“Look,” she said after breathing hard several times, “I’m not going to play this game. I don’t want to argue with you, and I don’t have to, but I will make one thing clear: if you go live with Nicholas, you can forget about college.”

I stared at her, unable to believe what I was hearing. “What?”

There wasn’t a shadow of doubt in her eyes.

“I won’t pay for your school, and I won’t give you money so you can—”

“William’s the one who pays for all this!” I shouted, enraged. She was acting like a total stranger. What the hell was all this about?

“I’ve talked it over with William. You’re my daughter, and he’ll respect whatever I decide to do with you. If I tell him not to send you one cent, then that’s what he’ll do.”

“You’ve lost your mind,” I said, taking in the significance of what she was saying.

“You think you can just have everything you want, but it’s not like that. You get an inch, and you take a mile. Well, that’s over. I’m not giving in anymore.”

“I’ll get a scholarship. I’m going to live with Nicholas. You can keep your husband and your money. I don’t give a shit.”

She shook her head, looking down at me like I was five years old, and I felt a fire burning inside me. This was getting serious.

“You won’t get a scholarship. Legally, you’re the daughter of a millionaire. So stop talking nonsense and acting like a brat.”

“I can’t believe you’re doing this.” I felt a pain in my chest.

She seemed to hesitate for a moment when my lip started to tremble. “Believe it or not, I just want the best for you.”

I laughed. “You’re a selfish bitch!” I shouted. “All you ever talk about is how you do everything for me, but you forced me to leave my country so you could marry a stranger, you promised me a bright future, and now that I’ve finally got all that I want, now that I’m finally happy, you’re ready to take away everything, and you’re threatening to come between me and the one thing I asked you for, the one thing I’ve cared about since we got here a year ago.”

“You can have everything you want; my only condition is you go live in a dorm. It’s not like you’ll never see Nicholas again. Anyway, I’m sure it wasn’t your idea to move in with him.”

“So what if it wasn’t! I’ve made my decision!” I walked to the other end of the room. “If you make me do this, I’ll never forgive you.”

She seemed not to hear my words. She just crossed her arms and looked at me, utterly convinced that she was right.

“College or Nicholas. You decide.”

I didn’t even need two seconds.