Chapter 128 Rather die

Chapter 128 Rather die
NANCY’S POV

I had already let Mr Hudson make me his personal punching bag; there was no way I was about to let my Dad do the same.

A hit from a man I knew could kill me if I said the wrong word was bearable, but that logic didn’t apply to my Dad.

Growing up under him, I knew now that this was the extent of what he could do to me.

Sometimes, I wondered why Nathan hadn’t stayed and had chosen to leave New Jersey instead, when he could have easily overpowered my Dad.

I guess I would never know now, since there was a probability that I would never get to see him again.

“You don’t get to hit me anymore,” I enunciated coldly, making sure my voice was well heard.

I wasn’t even angry. Not anymore.

Dad’s eyes flickered with disbelief, like he was now just realizing I wasn’t the same girl who would only express her grievances and then go ahead to cry in her room anymore.

Florida had done a lot of things, and making me more strong-willed was one of them.

Slowly, I released my wrist from his grip and stepped back.

“You lost that right the moment you decided to hand me over,” I said.

My mother let out a broken sob.

“Stop it… please, both of you…”

But neither of us looked at her.

“This is for your own good,” my father said after a moment, his tone colder now, more controlled. “You’ll understand eventually.”

“No,” I replied. “I won’t.”

I would never understand him because I couldn’t imagine doing that to my own child, and I would never understand him because the one father I knew would never sell out his own daughter like this.

Comparing my dad to Mr Landon, even when I was being so unruly and hurling insults at him, he never once raised his hands on me, and even though I tried to, I couldn’t imagine him doing so.

That difference alone was all I needed to make myself stand firm and not let my heart soften towards my parents.

I’d come to a decision that I would never forgive them for what they had done to me, and if I ever did get out of this situation, I promised myself to get as far away from them as I possibly could.

If I could, I would erase my memories of them and just forget these two people existed.

My father exhaled loudly while my hands curled by my side. I didn’t say anything else, and silence pervaded the space between us.

Eventually, I broke the silence to ask one other question I held in my heart.

For a second, I thought it over, but still ended up asking.

“It was Diana who called you, right?”

Dad's eyes returned to me, deep and piercing. I thought he wouldn’t respond, but he did.

“That girl is much sharper than you are.”

Of course, he would try to pit her against me.

This was even worse.

“If it weren’t for her, how would we have known where you were hiding?”

It was quite odd to me that they hadn’t figured it out all along, but then again, it wasn’t like they knew that Diana and I were still in contact since she had left New Jersey a long time ago.

I had kept that information hidden from them, particularly because my dad wasn’t fond of Diana and had warned me against hanging out with her, and even if just for a couple of months, keeping that little bit of information to myself had helped me evade them.

However, my heart still tightened when I recollected that Diana had eventually sold me out.

While I was lost in thought, my mother chipped in with something unexpected.

“Don’t blame her, she was just trying to help you.”

My gaze snapped to her fast.

“What do you mean?”

My mom bit her lip lightly, shot a glance at my dad, then continued hesitantly.

“She called us and told us where you were, but she made us promise that we wouldn’t give you to him.”

Everything inside me went still.

“…She what?”

“She forced us to promise,” my father added, taking over my mother’s explanation. “She interceded on your behalf, scared that something would happen to you.”

“As if…” he scoffed right after. “I don’t understand why you’re all acting like Hudson will stab you to death. The man just likes you and wants you…”

I was no longer listening to him. My mind had zoned out, and my heart, which I thought was frozen cold, bloomed with something warm again.

Although I tried to hold onto that feeling, it didn't last long because my mind returned to something else my mom had said.

“So you made a promise to Diana?” I didn’t actually want an answer from them, even though my words were phrased like a question.

My mom answered anyway.

“Yes.”

“And you still brought me here?” My voice rose again, shaking now with something deeper than anger. “You still handed me over to him?!”

My father’s expression hardened.

“We did what we had to do.”

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “No, you don’t get to say that anymore.”

“Nancy—”

“You broke your word,” I continued, my voice cutting through his. “You broke your promise to her. You didn’t consider me, you weren’t thinking of me, you…you…”

My voice broke off in a fit of fury.

“We’re here now to make things right,” Dad insisted.

A bitter laugh escaped me.

“Make things right?”

“Yes,” he said firmly. “You’re going to marry him.”

The words hit like a physical blow even though I’d heard them numerous times.

“No.”

“It’s the only way…”

“No!” I shouted, backing away. “I’m not marrying him!”

“Never, over my dead body!”

“You don’t have a choice.” Dad was saying, but I cut him off.

“There is always a choice!”

“I’m not marrying him,” I said again, quieter this time, but firmer, more certain than anything I had said before.

“I would rather die.”