Thorne Princess(47)

Left alone in the grand room, I ambled back to the window, hoping to catch a glimpse of my mother again. I liked to feel the delicious pain as it pierced through layers of my skin until it reached my heart. The ache was bittersweet. It felt like getting a new tattoo. It made me remember that I was alive. That I could still feel.

But the bench was empty, and the dogs were gone. Bees swarmed around fat flowers, and birds continued to chirp. The world went around its day, oblivious to my heartache.

Ransom’s meeting with Dad barely took thirty minutes. Ransom returned on his own, his face not betraying a word that’d been said during his visit to my father’s office. He collected his laptop and slipped it into a leather case.

I watched him, filled with sudden, urgent rage.

So what if this man had been through a lot? He chose to channel his anger toward being an unbearable, mean-spirited man. And his ire was directed at me. He wasn’t here to protect me. He was here to ensure I didn’t screw up publicly. I was his paycheck. His fat paycheck. And he’d probably spent the last thirty minutes telling my father how much of a bother I was, so he would give him a bonus.

“Was it everything you hoped for and more?” I cooed mockingly, pretending to study the view outside.

“Your parents are ready to see you. Make it short. I want to go.”

Did he, now? Well, I wanted things, too. I wanted to talk to my parents. I wanted respect. I wanted to stop being looked at as an unruly child.

“Actually, I decided to spend the night here.” I turned to face him. “Don’t wait up.”

Slinging his laptop bag over his shoulder, Ransom said levelly, “Go see your parents. I’ll wait here. We’re leaving in an hour.”

“You’re not listening.” I adopted the same tone my teachers used in private school for impact. “I want you to leave. I’m sleeping here tonight. There’s security here. Plenty of it. You’re dismissed.”

I didn’t know what I was doing. I certainly didn’t know if I was welcome to stay here. I just knew I couldn’t deal with Ransom after this…this…ongoing nightmare. To be absent from all the family photos, left for three hours to wait like a salesperson, and above all, to be discarded for him, after my parents hadn’t seen me in so long…

Ransom’s parents may have given up on him when he was a baby, but it was probably because they didn’t have the means to keep him. My parents had all the means in the world and zero will. They knew exactly who I grew up to be. They chose to opt out after trying the finished product.

“Leave!” I stomped, exasperated. “Go away.”

He stayed put, seemingly taller and wider and more intimidating than he was a second ago.

With a feral growl, I ran toward him, pushing at his chest. He didn’t move. My throat produced something between a roar and a whimper. I shoved at him once again, this time harder. I clawed at his torso, my nails scraping through the skin under his dress shirt, trying to make him bleed.

Nothing.

“Fuck!” I balled my fists, raining them down on his chest.

“Leave.” Thump.

“Me.” Thump.

“Alone!” Thump.

“That’s quite enough.” The voice, like an ice-cube, ran down my back, making me freeze in my spot. Suddenly I didn’t want to stay anymore. I didn’t turn around, knowing who it belonged to.

“Step away from the man, Bunny. Heaven knows you were raised better than that. Mr. Lockwood, our daughter will be staying with us tonight. You may take the rest of the day off.”

The voice grew louder, closer behind my back. My mother had entered the room. The delicate clicks of her heels rang gracefully, like champagne glasses clinking together.

“Turn around, Bunny.”

I did, feeling the air whooshing out of my lungs in one go. Oftentimes, I found myself disappointed and dissatisfied with my relationship with my father. But when it came to my mother, I was downright frightened.

She controlled Dad with an iron fist and was the main cause for every sanction against me. I always had the feeling my father’s disappointment with how I turned out was lighthearted. He’d accepted early on that nothing would become of me, and treated me with the same, offhanded sympathy he would to an old, farty family pet. An adorable discomfort, if you would. My mother’s displeasure, however, hit differently. More personal. She viewed me as a failure. An unfinished project. I was a chink in her otherwise flawless list of accomplishments. The house. The husband. The career. The perfect, doctor daughter. Even the stupid dogs won awards. She had trained the entire Thorne household to jump through hoops. Everyone except me.

“Hello, Mother.” My right eye twitched with annoyance. Sometime during this whole ordeal, Ransom must’ve found his way out, because I couldn’t see him. At least he wasn’t here to witness that.

She strolled toward me, hands clasped behind her back. Circled my frame, taking inventory. I tipped my chin up and stood up straighter, trying to swallow a lump in my throat.

“You hadn’t been answering our calls.” Disdain dripped from her voice. “Before we hired your security detail.”

“You haven’t been giving me a good reason to,” I countered.

“We’re your parents.”

You don’t act like it, I wanted to scream. I drifted away, and you let me. I opted out, and the door was wide open for me to walk through. You never wanted me.