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“Ivy, it’ll be okay. Remember, I’ve got you.” Cillian brings my hand to his lips and kisses it. “No matter what happens.”
I gaze at him and try to muster up courage I don’t feel. “Okay.”
Panic grips me the second we step through the front door, despite the familiar elegance of the house. I tryto see it from Cillian’s perspective. The entryway is adorned with fine art and sculptures. French doors allow a ton of natural light to flood in. To the right, the dining room boasts a long, polished table ready for formal gatherings. The living room, with its floor-to-ceiling windows, offers a breathtaking view of the lake and the lush gardens outside. The air is thick with the scent of fresh flowers from the veranda.
Visually, it’s peaceful here. A stark contrast to the tension vibrating in the air.
“Dad?” I call out, my voice trembles with anxiety. “I’m here.”
“In the great room,” his voice booms, sending a shiver down my spine.
Cillian follows me down the hallway to the back of the house where we find him sitting in his favorite chair, a drink in his hand. A complete no-no with his medication, but what can I say?
His eyes are cold and unforgiving as he gives Cillian a contemptuous frown. “I see you had the audacity to show your face,” he sneers. “Sit.”
Here we go.
We comply, taking a seat on the couch across from him. I feel like I’m suffocating under his stare, which goes on for what feels like ten minutes.
Finally, my dad’s eyes narrow on Cillian. “You have a lot of fucking nerve, you predatory piece of shit,” he snaps. “Sneakingaround like a goddamn coward. Fucking my daughter, who’s half your age. You’re disgusting. You’re a disgrace. And you think it’s appropriate to come into my homeuninvited?”
“Dad,stop!” I plead. “You don’t know the whole story. Cillian and I are in love. Please, let us explain.”
“I don’t want to hear it, Ivy. It’s fucking ridiculous.” He cuts me off, returning his icy gaze on Cillian. “I trusted you with my business. Treated you like a son. And you repay me by screwing my daughter and pretending you give a shit about her? She’s only been back for a few weeks. What kind of thirty-something degenerate wants to get his dick wet with a barely twenty-one-year-old girl? You’re a pathetic excuse for a man. Youdisgustme.”
My stomach drops to the floor. Every word from my dad hits me like a physical blow. My worst nightmare is unfolding before my eyes and the room feels like it’s closing in on me. My face burns with shame and embarrassment. I want to speak up, to defend Cillian, but I know how this type of conversation goes with my dad. There’s no getting a word in during one of these incidents.
I’m horrified, helpless, and powerless to protect the man I love from a relentless verbal onslaught.
“Mr. Bright, I—” Cillian attempts to speak.
“Shut the fuck up,” he barks. “Andyou,” he rounds on me, his eyes burning with fury, “fucking one of my contractorslike a common whore. Do you know how humiliating this is for me? Foryou?”
Cillian leans forward, his protective stance clear even while seated. “I will not stand by and allow you to speak to Ivy this way.” His voice is low and controlled, but filled with conviction. “I love your daughter. No one will tear her down in my presence. Not even you.”
“Love?” Dad’s face contorts with rage. “You’re nothing but an alcoholic loser. You think I don’t know about your drinking problem?Think again. I won’t let you corrupt my daughter for one more minute.” He leans in closer in an attempt to intimidate Cillian. “You’refired, effective immediately. Clear your shit off my jobsite by tomorrow and get thefuckout of my house. Ineverwant to see your disgusting face again.”
Tears stream down my face. This is going off the rails. I try to interject, “No, Dad,please—”
“Shut. The. Fuck. Up,” my dad shouts at the top of his lungs. “I don’t want to hear anything from a whore like you. You’ll sleep with anyone who gives you the time of day. It’s an embarrassment.”
Cillian turns to me, devastated. His eyes are filled with a pain that mirrors my own. “Ivy,” his voice cracks, “I can’t stay if he’s asked me to leave. I don’t want to make things worse but I won’t leave you here with him like this. It’snot safe.”
His words send a fresh wave of panic through my body. My heart aches at the thought of him leaving, but the vitriol I’ll be subjected to without witnesses terrifies me even more.
“Safe? Who the fuck are you to tell me how to take care of my own daughter? If you think I’ll allow you to waltz out of here with Ivy, you’re delusional.” My dad’s face contorts into a menacing snarl. “She staysherewith her family.”
I stand, my voice wobbly but resolute. “No. I’m not a child anymore. I make my own decisions. I love Cillian and I want to be with him. You can’t keep me here like a prisoner anymore. This is my life and I can choose who I want to be with.”
“Youslut,” my father spews. “I should have never let your mother take you to Italy on my fucking dime. Iknewyou couldn’t be trusted.
My knees buckle and I feel the blood drain from my face. How could my dad speak to me like this? It’s like he’s saved up three years’ worth of pent-up anger and is unleashing it all on me now. Does he really think so little of his own daughter?
The room spins, and I’m on the verge of fainting from the sheer mortification and pain of his words. Cillian’s reaction is swift. Protective. He stands and scoops me up into his arms as if I weigh nothing. I cling to him, my tears soaking his shirt. He carries me toward the front door with purposeful strides with my father’s hateful words echoing in my ears.
“Get out, both of you! You’redeadto me, Ivy! You hear me?DEAD! You won’t get a dime from me.” His words slice through the air and cut my heart in two as we reach the front door.
I hear a thud behind us and manage to glance over Cillian’s shoulder. My father has collapsed to the floor. “Dad!”
