Casing ??

Chapter 22

Dad practically growled as he took my arm and pulled me towards him, but James didn't let go. Dad said, "She will be moving to another city tonight, and you won't get a chance to ruin her life. Both my girls, so both of you can look far for their love and affection."

"Nina's moving?" Damian sounded surprised, then he grinned. "Good. She's like a horse fly around here."

He clapped dad on his shoulder, while James laughed at his friend's remark. When the laughter died, he looked more serious than I'd ever seen him. "Elina isn't moving unless she wants to," James said through gritted teeth. "She's an adult, and can make her own damn decisions, Kevin."

"So let her make one now." Lead dropped into my stomach at dad's tone. Then I felt his eyes on me, and I turned my head around, meeting his stare.

"This is absolutely ridiculous," I said, ripping myself away from both of them. "I'm not choosing one of you over the other, and I'm fine!" That last part was meant at James, and I gave him a pointed stare. Damian raised his brows at me and grinned, before turning around and wisely leaving us alone. He was growing on me. "Honestly, both of you are being immature, playing tug-of-war with me," I added, crossing my arms.

James smiled, and tilted his head to one side as he looked at my dad, who was staring at me with his mouth halfway open. "So, this really is who you've been dating?" dad asked after a few moments of silence.

I nodded. And James took a step towards me, his arm moving behind my back, until his hand locked around my waist.

"Yes," I replied, looking at dad.

"You couldn't last one month out in this world without ending up in the boss' bed?" He looked so disappointed. Even more than when I told him I wanted to stay. He grumbled, "You're just like your damn mother."

My cheeks heated, and my knuckles turned white. He actually said that, and I didn't know at all how to react. I knew my mother cheated on him. That she went behind his back to climb the ladder, in another family.

As she was caught, she claimed it was for Nina and I—to ensure we had a good and happy future—but dad was hurt, and the Strac's were furious. All I remember was dad coming home with blood all over him, and tears down his face. He hugged us both and told us mom was gone, she did a bad thing, and she had to pay the price.

I only learned later that he was the one to pull the trigger—and that he later held her for over an hour, crying. It was Hank who shared that last part, and dad would never admit that part out loud.

But that he said I was just like her? That hurt.

"I'm not mom," I said back.

"No?" Dad's eyes flickered between me and James, then down to the arm James had around me. "I'm so disappointed. This was the one thing I told you not to do, Elina." He brought his hand up and started rubbing his eyebrows, sighing deeply. "Either you stay away from him, or you're moving," he stated, his voice all kinds of dark and full of threats.

"I'm doing no such thing!" I actually stomped my foot as I said it. It was like the whole world shook under me as I made a decision, right there on the spot. "I love you, dad, but if you're going to dictate my whole life because you're afraid I'll end up like mom, you've got another think coming. I'm moving out."

The pure shock on dad's face was enough to fuel my confidence for a decade. "To move in with him, then?" he asked, nodding towards James.

"What? No—" I scrunched my nose, "—I barely know him. I'm getting my own place, and my own life. I'm not staying where I can't have a life."