Allie

 

"I can do this," I mumble to myself, looking in my full-length mirror. I'm wearing a simple black dress that falls to my knees with a sweetheart neckline. My hair is up in a tight bun and I'm wearing a little makeup, as my dad doesn't like it when I wear much. My phone buzzes with a reply from Elliot, I smile when I see he has asked me out but I decide it's best it reply later after dealing with my dad.

"Yes, you can, bestie," Izzy comments next to me putting her hand on my shoulder. The doorbell goes and I smile at Izzy. 

"I will see you later." 

"Be careful," she whispers giving me a hug. I walk out waving at Blake in the kitchen and answer the door to my dad. I can't but try to see something different as I look at him. He always wears grey suits, with a black tie. Everything looks neat and like he just walked out of a store. His dark brown hair is going grey at the roots, but it kind of suits him. There isn’t anything odd about him, nothing that would make me think he is a bad person. The kind of person that kills people, owns an illegal fighting club and is in general, a bad guy.

"Hello, my Alexandria," my dad says with a loving smile at me. I smile back like I always do, but for the first time, it feels forced.

"Hey dad, let's go," I say having to keep up a fake smile and shutting the door behind me. Dad doesn't say anything as I get in his car and we drive to the same restaurant in town we always go to.

"How's university going for you?" He asks as we drive. 

"All good. I'm enjoying my business course," I say but I don’t mean it. I don’t know why I let my dad talk me into that course. The only thing I’ve ever loved doing was dancing but he convinced me that it wasn’t a good choice for a future job. I glance at my dad’s face as he drives. He looks so much like my nice, kind dad I’ve always known, it's confusing.

"I'm very proud of you, Alexandria," he says, smiling at me. I can’t reply when my throat feels tight. I have to remember what he is doing to Elliot and his brothers. What he has always done. We don’t talk as he parks outside the posh restaurant. It is a white building, and you have to go up a lift to the top floor. The top floor has all glass windows instead of walls, and the chef is cooking in a large open kitchen in the middle of the room. We are seated at a glass table by one of the windows; the view is really nice looking over the town. You can see all the lights and distant mountains of the Lake District in the background. As usual, my dad orders for me but I don't mind as it’s chicken pasta and a nice white wine. 

"So, tell me, what have you been up to?" Dad asks sipping his brandy from a tumbler. I’ve always wondered why he only stays at home a few nights a week when he came back home from working away, I now know he must have been staying at a hotel or somewhere to keep up with his work at The Cage. All the lies are adding up and I wonder why he bothered keeping up with it all. I decide to mention Elliot straight away because I hate lying. I know part of me wants him to admit it to me, but I know he won’t. I know he has been lying to me for years but even looking at him now, I only see the dad I’ve known. Not the monster I’ve been told he is.

"Dad, I've been getting close to Elliot King. Do you remember him from school?" I ask taking note of how tense dad gets. He puts his drink down before weaving his fingers together in front of him.

"Ah yes, Mr. King, I do remember. I don't like this new person in your life. Does your brother know about this?" He asks. I don’t like his tone, a tone I’ve never had him use with me, it is dark and spoken like a true threat.

"No, not until recently but I like him, I like him a lot. He is a good man and," I say and my dad slams his hand on the glass table making me jump.

"You won't see him anymore, Alexandria," dad says each word slowly, his eyes drilling into mine. I move back in my seat a little as I see his cold face. I try to hold in the gasp by covering my mouth with my one hand. It’s true; I can see it, what everyone is telling me about my dad. It’s all true.

"Dad, no offence but I don’t think I will listen to you,” I reply, lowering my hand and setting a glare on my father. He seems a little surprised.
“What else is going to happen, is that he won't be fighting for you anymore, not if you want to see me. I know everything that has been going on, how could you?" I say taking a huge risk. My dad sighs loudly before righting his tie. He smirks at me in a cold matter that I don't like. It’s like this is all a game to him. I have a feeling he plays games like this all the time and he likes it.

"My silly little girl. At least you know the truth about my business. It’s been annoying seeing you so naive.” He shakes his head with a small creepy laugh.

“Unfortunately for you, I will just have him killed, if you disobey me," he says, deadly serious as he watches me.

"You won't kill him, that's crazy," I harshly whisper to him shaking my head.

"You have no idea how much I hate the King family. Did you know what their father did?” Dad leans back in his chair, taking a sip of his drink before he continues talking to me.

“I will do worse than just kill him and I can make him suffer, he’ll wish he never even heard your name,” he says, the sick part is that he says it normally. Like we could be talking about what to get from the shop for dinner.

“Elliot looks the most like his father, did you know that? His deadbeat father only did one thing right and that was teaching those boys how to fight. That’s the only reason I didn’t kill them, it’s more fun to own them. To make them fight for me, kill for me.  They all have done things in my cage that would break most boys.” He chuckles, like it’s a good memory, while I feel sick.

“The King boys have been a nuisance recently, first with that Izzy. Their father was smart to hide her from me. I remember her mother, a really pretty woman but stupid. She never understood who she was fucking. Now the King boy’s mother, Linda, was a smart woman but didn’t want children. I have no idea how he convinced her to have four!” he laughs.

“You could have killed Izzy, are you mad?” I ask and he continues with only a slight pause at my question.

“The boys showed me another side to them with that Izzy nonsense, they are smarter than I gave them credit for, but I won’t make that mistake again. All that bother with my niece was just for fun but they even managed to get out of that, " he tuts his tongue while I clench my fists.

"Niece?” I ask.

“Oh right. I had a sister. She was a little crazy, eventually killed herself after having a child. Your cousin went to school with you, I didn’t know about her until she found me. Her name was Elena Michaels or something like that.” He says and I have a flashback of seeing him with her. Elena was crazy about Sebastian and ended up in a mental hospital a few months ago when she attacked Maisy. I didn’t think I could be more shocked but I am.

“Do you know how fucking crazy you sound?" I shout and a few head turn my way as I stand up.

“Sit down, you’re making a scene. I am not crazy; you should learn to respect your father. I brought you up better than this.” He says in a clipped tone.

“Leave me and Elliot the fuck alone, dad, I can’t believe what you have done. You’re a good actor, I'll give you that.” I say to him over the table.

“You have no idea, my little girl.” He replies.

“Elliot isn’t a bad guy and I need you to leave him alone.”

I tell him, lowering my tone a little as I feel tears coming to my eyes. I can't stand the thought of anyone touching him, hurting him. God, I really like him enough to stop anyone. 

Dad laughs, his head falling back with it. I watch in a little bit of a shocked daze as he stands up and walks over to me on the other side of the table. He grabs my both my wrists painfully, making me look at him. I notice people are staring but he doesn't care as he leans down to whisper in my ear. 

"Stay away from Mr. King or I will kill him myself, trust me I would enjoy a chance. Losing one brother wouldn’t be a total loss on my business but it would be a shame. I will be watching, I’m always watching you, my sweet little girl," he warns with a glint in his eyes before letting go. He takes a wad of cash out his wallet and drops it on the table before grabbing my wrists again and pulling me outside. I follow in shock before pulling away outside.

"No, you can't do this, dad," I start backing away. 

"Oh, Alexandria, we have a lot to discuss. Your brother won't be taking over my work because he doesn't have what it takes.” He smiles.

“After tonight, I can see you are far more interesting than I thought you were. I have a feeling you would do anything to protect the Kings." He sneers the last part, sounding more like the man I've been told about. A car pulls up behind me and I turn to see Tristan getting out his car.

"Tris," I say with a confused look as he walks up to me. His every step is filled with anger.

"Allie, we are leaving," he says as he puts his arm around my shoulder.

"Don't forget. I will be watching," Is all I hear my dad say as he gets in his car, not once looking at me. I want to text Elliot but what if my dad’s warning is true. Can I risk him? No, I can't because it hurts my chest to even think of him hurt. 

"What the hell were you thinking?” Tris says as we watch my dad’s car drive off. We both get into his car without me replying to him, I don’t think I know what to say anyway.

“Blake called to tell me where you had gone, before you ask. Dad is dangerous, Allie, and even more so right now," Tris’s hands tighten on the steering wheel, so much his knuckles go white. 

"I wanted him to leave Elliot alone, but I think I made it worse. Dad said he would kill him if I," I crack a little on the end of my sentence and not able to say anything else.

"Al, you know I love you right?” Tris says gently as he starts his car.

“To keep you safe, I would do anything but if you love Elliot you need to do the same." He says plainly.

"What can I do?" I ask.

"Stay away from him," Tris says his voice full of pity, so much that I can't even talk to him. I look out the window as we drive home. I can’t say out loud that Tris Is right, I’m sure he is. I’ve wanted Elliot King since I was young girl. Since I started liking boys. I wanted Elliot, even when he was mean to me when he made my life a living hell at school. I liked the attention he gave me. My heart stings when I look at my phone, knowing that I can't reply to Elliot's text and I can't see him. Tris is right, I'm not sure if I love him but I care enough to stay away. I send a message to Maisy. 

Me: I can't help with the wedding anymore. I will send everything I've done to Izzy so she can take over. I am sorry Maisybear x

She doesn't reply for a while. Tris drives me back to our old home. Memories flood me over my dad and mum. They were always arguing, she always was telling him to give up his job. I never understood why she hated his work. I do now.

"Why do we even come back here?" I ask Tris.

"I have an apartment in town. I didn't tell you, because well, I couldn't explain why. Let's get you some stuff and I can take you to mine. I have a spare room and no roommate yet," he says with a tight smile to me. 

"How long?" I ask knowing he knows I'm talking about the apartment. 

"Since I turned eighteen, I only used this house to bring girls back or when I knew he was in the country. I didn’t want you alone with him," he says with a glance at me before getting out the car. Tris always had to deal with dad ignoring him when we were younger. He always made it clear he didn’t like Tris but I never understood why he stayed when we got older. We both have quite a bit of money in the banks from our grandparents, who passed away not long after I was born. Enough to easily live on without a job and we both got it all when we turned sixteen. I try not to touch mine unless I have to for general things. A lot is in shares and I live off what I get back from those. My university course was paid off by my dad. I think it was a way of making sure I did the course when I didn’t want to. In my life, I tell everyone what I want and I do what I want but not now. I never knew how controlled I have been until tonight. I know my dad has been controlling me for a while. I’m his silly little girl.

"Tris, this…this isn't fair," I say with a sob when I'm out of the car, I go to stand next to him in front of our old home. 

"It has never been, but we have each other. You’re my family Allie, and I won’t let him hurt my sister. I am sorry about Elliot, but there will be other guys," he says as he wraps a massive arm around my shoulder, giving me a side hug before opening the door. I pack the rest of my clothes and things from my old home. I know I won’t be coming back here again. Dad can make me lose the man I want, but he won't have the family he clearly wants.