Chapter 147 Speaking up to her parents

Chapter 147 Speaking up to her parents
Victoria stood in the middle of their huge living room, with her head lowered. Her parents stood opposite her, their faces red with anger as they scolded her.

"What is wrong with you, child?" Her father asked, his body vibrating with rage. His wife stood next to him, patting his back to get him to calm down.

His daughter's attitude only made everything worse. Maybe if it wasn't for his wife, he would have put his hands on her by now.

"I had to hear from your teacher... Your teacher," he said it twice, his voice rising at the second phrase, "...about what happened at your school. Why didn't you tell us?"

Victoria sincerely couldn't understand what was going on.

She had barely finished her exams when, all of a sudden, her father's driver arrived at the school, ready to take her home.

Just as she walked in, her father began yelling at her.

At first, she thought that it was just one of his moods, but he was seeming too particular about the incident that happened in the school two weeks ago.

"Is that why you're so mad?" She asked, taking a step back as she did. "Dad, it's nothing serious."

She had just almost died... No biggie.

"The person who did everything is in jail, and I'm fine... See." Victoria spread her arms out and then turned around for them to see before muttering under her breath, "Not like you care, though."

She didn't get why her apathetic parents were suddenly being so caring.

That was if she could even call it that.

They just seemed annoyed regarding the incident.

Victoria's father's eyes became even redder. His ears picked up the words his daughter had muttered, and he repeated them with a scowl.

"Not like I care?"

Her mother quickly began caressing her father's arm to calm him down before directing a glare towards Victoria.

"Victoria, don't you get your father any more angry."

Tori almost rolled her eyes.

Everything she did angered that man, even when she wasn't deliberately trying to do it.

"What were you even doing at the woods?" Tori heard her mother ask, and she looked up to see the woman staring at her with a judging gaze. "You were supposed to be at a party."

Victoria opened her mouth to explain, but before any word could come out, her father spoke again... His loud voice thundering in the room.

"What if you had died?!"

The question sounded as though he cared, but his tone said something entirely different.

"That killer is merciless and psychopathic. He wouldn't give two fucks about the family you come from. He would just kill you off."

Victoria flinched at her father's tone.

His words were surprising.

How did he know the killer was psychopathic?

She took a few steps back, lowering her head while staring at the tiles.

She heard her father inhale as though he was struggling to keep his cool.

Almost a minute of silence passed by before she heard his voice again.

"What about that boyfriend of yours?" He asked.

Victoria raised her head.

Boyfriend?

Her father's face looked a bit better. He was less angry.

He seemed more... anxious?

"He was at the party too, right? Is he alright?"

Victoria blinked, her brows knitting at the top of her head.

"Why do I feel like that question is an opposite?" She asked, blurting the thought in her head. "Do you not want him to be alright?"

Victoria noticed the look that passed in her mother's eyes before she came to stand in front of her husband.

"What are you saying, Victoria?" She asked quickly, defending her husband like she always did. "Stop accusing your father. And of course he's worried about Nelson. He is a Clark, and he's your boyfriend."

No.

Victoria always knew her parents were shady, but this was on a different level.

They were being too strange, and her father's question... It didn't seem right.

Ever since her ruse with Nelson began, they had given her a bit of freedom, but they occasionally asked questions regarding Nelson.

Disturbing questions.

"Okay." Victoria shook her head as she stared at her parents. "I don't understand both of you, but I need to make a few things clear."

Her voice shook towards the end because of her father's gaze, but she looked away from him to look at her mother.

"One." She began, raising her index finger. "Nelson is not my boyfriend. He never was, and never will be."

A gasp left her mother's lips, but she quickly covered her mouth.

Her father's eyes widened in shock.

His daughter... disobeyed him?!

Another sound left her mother's lips, and she was about to speak, but Victoria spoke first.

"I told you from the start. He likes my friend, the same girl Mum calls a lowlife. That high-life guy likes her."

The more she spoke, the more confidence Victoria gained.

Being in a life-or-death situation had taught her that she had to speak up now before it became too late.

"Two..." She added a finger to the index finger. "Remember that kid that came to the house? The one who dropped me off that Mother called a delinquent and a hooligan...?"

Then she paused to give them time to remember who she was talking about before speaking again.

"That's Miles Sanchez."

Her mother's eyes went completely round.

"What?"

The kid with long hair and an earring?

How could that be a Sanchez?

As though Victoria could read the question on her mother's mind, she nodded as she continued.

"Yes, the youngest son of the Sanchez family, and he likes me. And... And I like him too."

"What?"

This time, it was her father's turn to be surprised.

The Sanchez?

He hadn't thought of that family.

"Three."

Before the Rogers could recover from the two blows their daughter had given them, Victoria spoke again, yet again adding another finger to the other two.

This time, her mother held her breath, waiting to be hit with more bad news.

Victoria sucked in a huge breath before speaking again.

This was it.

She was taking a stand.

"I'm not going to let you both ruin my life anymore. I'm not your puppet, Father..." She looked at him, then called him a word she hadn't said to his face in a long time. "...Dad."

She felt a surge of emotions as soon as the words left her lips.

It didn't feel as natural as it should have. She was used to the robotic version, Father.

"I'm your daughter, not one of your employees that you can boss around." She cried. "I'm tired of living in fear of you and your wife. I'm cutting loose, and I don't care about what you think about that."

By the time she was done, Tori was almost out of breath. The weighing feeling in her chest had lightened, and she could breathe better.

But one thing still remained.

"And last but definitely not the least."

She looked up at her father, who stared at her like she wasn't his daughter.

"How did you know about what happened in the school?"

An emotion passed through her father's eyes immediately.

Surprise... guilt?

Something like that, but then he blinked, and it disappeared.

It only made Tori more suspicious.

"The principal begged all of us to keep quiet about it. I'm certain he wouldn't have told you."

How could someone who specifically told them not to tell their parents tell their parents?

"Also, how did you know the stalker was a psychopath?" She asked again, and before her father could get any space to breathe, she asked one more question. "And why did you sound like you wanted Nelson unalived?"

Mr. Rogers looked away from his daughter, unable to stand her gaze.

Victoria felt her heart drop at his suspicious movement, and a thought came to her head.

"Dad..." Her voice shook. "Please, don't tell me that you know something about what happened two weeks ago."