Liar (Madison Kate #2)(18)

I swung my furious gaze around to my stepbrother and glared absolute death at him. I was under no illusions that this wasn’t his bullshit at play. Kody and Steele were just being dragged down with the sinking ship.

"How very altruistic of Archer," I snarled. He didn't look guilty or remorseful in the least. Standard fucking D'Ath.

"This is what's going to happen, Madison Kate," my father continued. "You're not to leave this house without one of the boys to accompany you. You will go to class and come straight home again. You won't be running around with Bree getting up to god knows what mischief, and you certainly won't be seeing that predatory delinquent Dallas Moore."

"This must be a fucking joke," I whispered, horrified. "I must be imagining this. Maybe that concussion was worse than they told me."

"Sit down," Archer hissed at me, yanking sharply on my hand. I hadn't even noticed I'd stood up from my chair. As such, I dropped back into my seat like a sack of bricks.

My father gave me a cold, unkind smile. "Consider yourself under house arrest until these stupid pranks and fake stalker stunts stop happening."

I was stunned to the point of speechlessness. But then... Nope. No way. I was a grown-ass woman, whether I lived in my father's house or not. And no one was forcing me to stay.

Taking a calming breath, I shoved my anger and outrage and sheer disbelief aside. My father didn't respond well to emotions, only facts and logic.

"I understand the rules you're laying out, Dad," I responded with my very best calm voice, given the circumstances. "And, respectfully, go fuck yourself."

Whoops.

But the damage was done, so I backed myself. "If those are the rules to living under your roof, then it's an easy fix. I won't." I shoved my chair back from the table and yanked my fingers out of Archer's grip—not until then realizing he hadn't let go. "Cherise, it was lovely to meet you, but your taste in men is, frankly, appalling. I recommend making some life changes."

With a tight smile to my father's girlfriend, I spun on my heel and started out of the dining room. My spine was ramrod straight and my chin high. Fuck them all. I'd survive on my own.

"Madison Kate Danvers," my father's voice boomed, and I flinched. As badly as I wanted to stand on my own two feet and walk out of there with my head held high... old habits died hard. I paused. "If you walk out of this house right now, I'll have you declared medically unfit and committed to Riverview Heights against your will."

I turned around slowly, hardly believing what I was hearing. "You can't do that," I said, shaking my head. "I'm over eighteen; I'm not under your control anymore."

My father looked totally unperturbed, and the guys—all fucking three of them—were like damn statues. None of them looked at me as my father removed my freedoms.

"I can, and I will." Samuel Danvers reached for his phone, holding it up in a threatening way. "Try me, daughter. A few doses of sedatives and mood stabilizers might do a world of good for that rebellious nature of yours."

Speechless. I was fucking speechless. This had to be some kind of head injury–related hallucination. Disbelief warred with outrage and fury as I shifted my gaze over everyone else in the room. Samuel Danvers was the one delivering my sentencing, but no one else was speaking up. No one was defending me. No fucking one.

"You're all just going to sit there and let him threaten me like this?" I demanded, my glare sweeping across the guys. I knew Cherry was a lost cause already; my father’s casual comment about drugging me had given me a solid clue why she was so fucking docile. Archer had probably been in on this whole plan all along. But... Kody? Steele?

"Say something!" I shouted at them. They weren't avoiding my gaze, anymore, but their eyes were hard and their postures stiff. I would get no help from them. Not today.

"It's for your own good, Madison Kate," Archer said, his voice like glacial ice.

I'd never wanted to kill someone as badly as I did right then.

"I'm not fucking standing here and taking this," I replied, my mind whirling so hard I was growing dizzy. I started for the door again, but of course my father had to have the last word.

"You leave this house without supervision, you force my hand." He didn't even sound like he cared. "I expect this hysteria and acting out to stop, Madison Kate. You're making this family look ridiculous, and I won't stand for it any longer."

I had no words. I just flipped him off and shoved my way out of the dining room, letting the door slam against the wall.

Tears burned my eyes, but instead of running for my bedroom like a sulking child, I paused a moment outside the dining room. Listening.

No one spoke for a moment, and then someone let out a heavy sigh.

"Was that all necessary?" Steele asked, and my heart squeezed painfully. How could he not have stood up for me? After everything he'd said to me, after all the raw emotions he'd poured out. I’d thought he cared. I’d thought...

"She's still better off in Riverview, if you ask me," my father snapped back, his voice carrying more feeling in that one sentence than the whole time he'd spoken to me, "safely medicated and out of public eye."

"We didn't ask you, Sam," Archer replied with a thread of disgust in his tone. "You've done your part. I think your girlfriend would really enjoy a world cruise, wouldn't you, Mom?"