Chapter Sixty-Three-2

But I tried, I tried to reject his advances and once more shoved his chest with closed fists as I glared so fiercely back at him, retracting from his grasp like his touch alone burned me. "Don't you dare touch me," I hissed, emphasizing every word of disdain like my life depended on it "Don't you dare lay a hand on me and act as if you aren't the only person here I want to be as further away from as much as possible, don't you dare act as if I wanted you here." Throughout the times I've known my father, he was never one to show his emotions and to make them visible, he concealed it better than anyone I know, better than my mother even. But there was no doubt the scorned look that clouded over his eyes was there and wasn't just something that I was imagining, almost as if my words actually struck a nerve. For a moment, I felt a slither of remorse course through me, just a fraction, but as soon as it tried to sneak into my system, I instantly tried to suppress it, refusing to be swayed by his wounded facade, knowing his brief pain would not amount to my life's worth of suffering. This is the same man who's gone and left more times than he's ever been there for me, and has hurt the ones I've loved without as much as thinking about it, so who am I to give him the benefit of a doubt now? To sympathize with him when he deserves nothing of the sort. But that pretense went away and just as I had expected, he attempted to assert his control over me by taking a step forward and looking down on not only me but Evan as well. All the while as he spoke in a grave tone "I am not gonna stand idly by watching my daughter get auctioned off like some sort of prostitute," my eyes widened at his revolting implication as he continued "And if you try to fight me one more time it won't be long before I shut this whole place down and get everyone here arrested for witnessing the marriage of two minors that is illegal due to my lack of involvement as a father." That's what did it for me, that was the last straw as I immediately tugged on his arm and pulled him out of the venue, our steps hurried as I tried to look for a vacant room we can reside in away from the crowd. I settled with an empty office. I walked in with him hot on my trail as I loudly slammed the door shut with a bang! as I quickly let go of his arm once we were out of everybody's earshot. He remained by the door as I put a barrier between us, walking towards one of the office desks as I leaned both of my hands against it, panting heavily. While our rapid breathing can be heard amidst the dead silence lingering in the atmosphere, I tried to release some steam, thinking to myself if I was gonna resolve this I needed to have a clear mind. But per usual, he made it impossible for me to do that: "You're acting irrationally, Margaret." My hands gripped the edges of the desk that I was leaning on for support, still too disoriented to argue back at him and you'd think after all that he's done, is that he would at least have the littlest bit of compassion as to how this is affecting me. Me, his daughter. But of course, he instead persists "I did what I had to do because if I hadn't intervened, God knows what that rotten family might've done to you, I was trying to save you-" That's what caused me to snap once more, instinctively letting my hands grab one of the closest things I can latch onto which was a thick, black stapler as I turned around and threw it across the room at him. All the while as he dodged it before it could even hit him, the object colliding with the wooden door behind him with a loud thud that I'm sure my assault might've caused a dent or two. He was shocked, to say the least, but that didn't stop me as I let the adrenaline brewing inside of me gradually simmer down, but it was of no use. I was practically ready to murder someone at this point "You have so much nerve to come back here and claim you were trying to save me from a rotten family when you're the only rotten family I'm trying my best to get away from." I indignantly shook my head at him, but he didn't budge as he locked eyes with me, not going down without a fight like always "It doesn't matter what you feel about me now, Margaret. Whether it may be your clear resentment of me that's making you think that this family could save you and your mother, when I'm just here trying to prevent the both of you from making a huge mistake that could cost you both of your lives." I scoffed at that "Both of our lives? At-risk? Haven't you ever thought of that when you left us and took the company with you, leaving us almost bankrupt? Leaving mom no other choice but to resort to getting a loan from a family that she barely even knew, but a family that was fucking kind enough to help her back on her feet unlike you?" "Unlike you who just fucking left us like we didn't matter." I shot back, feeling my voice tremble as I took bold steps towards him as my chest started to heave up and down "As if you couldn't give a damn whether or not we would survive without you. Left us as if we were just a bunch of people you'd be more than happy to see die instead of what we actually are-" "Your family. Mom, who's your wife, and even if you don't love her, she's the mother of your fucking child, me. Your daughter that you claim to love but somehow I never f-felt-" I couldn't help it, the tears started streaming down my face as I willed myself to continue with my ranting, but the more I fight the more I inflict damage onto myself than onto him. I was a mess. I was a shaking, quivering mess of the person I came to be now unlike the person who I was then who had her guard up and had no trouble fighting against her father. But now, as I've let myself completely unravel all the pent up aggression and pain I've bottled up inside of me for too long, is when I realized that as much as I wanna hide it, it's out in the open I am hurt more than I am angry, and as much as I would care to admit it I am fucking crashed to see my father not spare the slightest bit of compassion for me, to see him act like a fucking superhero and ruin my moment's worth of happiness and freedom and to just take it all away.