Chapter 56 Chapter 55
ADRIANA'S POV
I refused to look up, not wanting to meet his gaze or my father's because it would put me in the awkward position where I would have to choose. With or without a word, there would be this silent battle that I didn't want to be a part of.
"Why do you have to be there? Don't I deserve the privacy?" my father isn't giving up but if I knew Xander even a little bit, he wouldn't give up too. Speaking of which, he gave my father a look that told him he didn't deserve the privacy.
"You have five minutes." He said finally then leaned back in his chair. He looked up and faced me. "You should sit." He nodded toward the chair opposite my father and I froze. I'm sure he heard how my heart was beating, he looked curious but was smart enough to not say anything. I wasn't about to indulge my feeling with him.
I took slow steps, each one filling my stomach with dread. I lowered myself into the chair with a slight wince as I stretched my back, my father didn't pay any attention to me. He wasn't even looking at me.
My palms were getting sweaty, the nerves starting to get the best of me.
Xander was going about with his work, while I tried my best to not meet my father's eyes. The last time we met, I choose to follow Xander instead of him and even disrespected him, something I've never done.
It was a good thing Xander chose to be here, I didn't know what my father would have done to me if I was left with him. He wouldn't mind that Xander was here and he might do something to him after, all he would care about was hurting me. It was what gave him the most satisfaction.
"Your brother is sick." Of all the things he could have started with, he started with that. No how have you been? It's been a long time since I last saw you after I sold you to a terrible man and didn't look back after you left with him. Nothing.
I felt something I would say I never gave myself the audacity to feel, anger. How dare he? I knew I decided to follow Xander, but why didn't he put into account that I ran away because I didn't want to be with this man. And he saw us together after, what if he had threatened me?
He just didn't care and now he felt like he had the right to tell me his son was sick? Why the fuck should I care?
"You need to come back home." His voice was as hard as steel, no emotion in sight as he spoke.
I stared at him in disbelief, waiting for the words to fully sink in to see if he really just said that. I knew it wouldn't happen but I expected him to laugh and say he was just joking and he came to tell me he was sorry for all that he has done. I guess the stupid little girl that dreamed her father would grow to love her is still in there.
"No!" the words left my mouth before my brain fully registered what I even said. I would have taken it back either way. My heart was burning with anger and I wanted to scream at my father, preferably but I wasn't going to test my luck. Just because he was being courteous doesn't mean he would take disrespect now. Xander here or not.
I felt Xander's eyes on me though I didn't turn to face him, I was too invested in my anger to think of anything else right now.
"What?" he replied through gritted teeth. He was gripping the hands of the chair so tightly that even his knuckles turned white, he might rip through it if he didn't let it go soon. I stared at him defiantly.
I Wasn't even scared for myself or what he would do to me if I went with him. I was just tired him and how he was unfair to me, and how he always treats me like shit, like it was my fault he cheated on his mate. He easily discarded me when he felt like it and now, he wants me back. Probably because he thought Xander wasn't hurting me enough. He expected him to treat me badly and break me, that was what he was best known for.
"You heard me." I didn't care what he might do, at this point, he could kill me for all I cared. He has been very close to that, multiple times even. "I'm not coming with you." This is the second time I'm disrespecting him in another person's presence, the same person. He might have let the thing with Xander go the first time, this time he wouldn't. Though one thing has changed between now and then. I would willingly defy him and stand for myself this time around. I was no longer very scared of him.
"I'm not coming with you." I stated clearly now. My father's body shook with the force of his anger but he didn't say a word. Xander stayed in the shadows, keeping his words to himself but I was sure he was hearing everything that was going on and I hoped he would intervene if it came to that.
"Your brother!" his voice rose an octave when he said that. He was holding his temper by a thin thread.
"Yes, I heard you the first time." I squared my shoulder and met his furious gaze. I was being openly disrespectful and the old me would have stopped by now and decided to just submit and do what he wants. I felt like I would rather die than do what he said.
"Adriana, if you do," he growled, before he could speak, Xander's deep voice interrupted.
"I would be careful how I finished that sentence if I were you." He tsked, staring up at my father through hooded gaze. There was a flash of golden in his eyes.
Father swallowed, his throat working as he fought the anger. Trying to decide if angering Xander was worth it. He may be an alpha but Xander was a lycan alpha, the lycan king for that matter. Father was a measly wolf compared to him and that gave me a weird sense of
pride.
It felt nice, seeing the man I feared more than anyone cowering under the weight of another person's gaze.
"Don't come in between me and my daughter!" my father snapped, finally deciding to speak. He must have thought it would be worth it. Not for me though, I knew he wasn't fighting for me. It was for his ego.
"I would come in between you and her if you are disrespecting her in my presence." His words were tinged with a growl, each one coming out more feral than the last. "Now, decide if you want to leave here with all your limbs intact or not."
Xander shot off his seat while I watched him with wide bulging eyes. Both my father and I were stunned, too stunned to speak and we only watched him. He rounded the corner, my father's body becoming more rigid with every step he took.
I saw him jump a bit when Xander reached his side but he didn't stop there, he crossed the table and walked to another side of the room where a whiskey glass was kept with multiple crystal glasses. He poured two pints in two glass tumblers before picking it up and walking back to us. My father's body was hard like a stone when Xander came back, he dropped one glass in front of him and placed his hand on his shoulder. From here I could see how hard he was gripping it.
His jaw was hard, you could probably cut a clear glass with it.
"Drink this and calm yourself first. You can get back to your conversation after that."