The estate hadn’t changed a bit. It was still huge, flashy, and way too much. My father had a hand in every part of the place. From the shape of the hedges to the type of wood that went into making the front door. Growing up I was positive the estate was his real pride and joy. He was more proud of his home than he was of all three of his children combined.

It felt weird, ringing the buzzer instead of letting myself in like always. In a fit of righteous anger I threw my house keys into the ocean on my way out. At the time, it was supposed to be symbolic of my vow to never return. Now, the memory of it made me feel nothing but embarrassment at my own dramatics.

A young woman I didn’t recognize answered the door a moment later. Her glossy brown hair was pulled up in a neat bun and she donned a simple pair of jeans and a sweater. The white apron around her waist clued me in to who she was: the new housekeeper.

She smiled at Dex and I, beckoning us inside by widening one of the front double doors. “You must be Miss Rosaline. Mrs. Reed told me to expect your arrival.” As she closed the door behind us she leaned over to the intercom system next to the door, letting out a short statement to let my stepmother know we arrived. She looked Dex up and down, her brown brow furrowing. “She didn’t tell me you would be bringing someone along though. I only prepared one bedroom.”

I smiled at her, hoping like hell it was reassuring. “That’s alright. She didn’t know.”

“Rosaline!” My stepmother exclaimed as she descended the imperial staircase.

I stood there awkwardly. “Hey, Valerie.”

She looked the same as she always had, her long red hair styled perfectly and her small body encased in an impeccable pair of slacks and a sleeveless silk blouse. Her ever-present pearls sitting perfectly along her dainty collarbone. She was beautiful, just like always.

Valerie grabbed me into a hug, her designer perfume smelling of wildflowers. My stepmother had never been outwardly cruel or rude to me, but she had never done anything to discourage my father from separating me from the rest of the family. I remembered the tears in her eyes when my father brought me home for the first time, and their hushed argument later that night about the impending destruction of their perfect little family.

I had always resented her for that. For not caring enough. For denying me a proper mother figure because of mistakes that were not my own. For spending more time outwardly denying my presence than getting to know me.

“Look at you!” she exclaimed, taking me by the shoulders and leaning back to take me in. “It looks like that Miami sun has done you some good.” She tweaked my nose a bit. “We missed you around here.”

My scoff sounded throughout the foyer, bouncing off of the perfectly marbled floors.

Valerie sighed, choosing to ignore my rude reaction. “Bianca and Adrian send their regards. You missed them by a few hours.”

With the exception of some childish taunts and pranks here and there, much like their mother, my half brother and sister had largely chosen to ignore me. I wasn’t sure if it was due to our age difference or the fact that I was the product of their father’s infidelity. Either way, I definitely hadn’t been eager to see them.

“Please tell them I said hello the next time you speak with them.”

My stepmother smiled and turned to Dex, who had been waiting silently and patiently at my side, sizing him up with her bright green gaze. “And who is this?”

“This is Dex, my boyfriend.”

Dex grasped her hand in his, giving her a firm shake before wrapping his arm around my waist. “It’s a pleasure to meet you ma’am.”

Valerie smirked, looking over at me once more. “You leave us for a few months and come back in the arms of some hunk.” She giggled. “You’re going to give your father another heart attack, Rosaline.”

“Speaking of, where is he? I should go see him.”

She waved me off, calling out for the housekeeper again. “Why don’t you get settled first? Clean up, have something to eat. Your father can wait a bit. Melissa will go retrieve your bags from the car.”

Dex shook his head. “No, please. I’ve got them.” He addressed Melissa directly before returning back out of the front door.

“What a gentleman.” Valerie giggled again.

I ignored her. “I’m guessing we’re stationed in my old bedroom?”

She paused. “I’m not so sure your father would approve of you two staying in the same room.”

“Well I guess it’s a good thing I don’t care what he approves of then,” I lied.

Dex returned with our bags and I grabbed my suitcase out of his hand before grabbing his arm. “Let’s go.”

My childhood bedroom was the same as it always was. Cream colored walls tastefully decorated with various random artworks and pristine white furniture, topped with the few valuables I hadn’t deemed necessary to take to Miami with me. The room was completely free of dust, smelled like lemon cleaning products and the large canopy bed in the center of the room was perfectly made up.

My bedroom, the space I spent very little of my time since my initial arrival at the Reed family estate, was completely bare of any sort of personality. I had bedrooms all over the world, California, the south of France, New York, even the English countryside, all of them filled with the best furniture, clothes, and accessories money could buy, but I absolutely hated them. I couldn’t wait to be back in Miami, lounging around Dex’s house or my dingy little apartment. The only two places that really felt like home.

“This is... Nice,” Dex tried to compliment the ornate bedroom but I knew he was thinking the same thing I was. It was cold, lonely, and completely depressing. There were no posters or family pictures, nothing to indicate anyone had ever really lived there.

“I’m going to shower.” I dropped my suitcase and pushed past him into the in-suite bathroom, desperately needing the few minutes of alone time a shower would provide me.

* * *

I couldn’t have described that night’s dinner if I was tortured for the answer. Dex, Valerie, and I sat at the large dining room table consuming a well-made but unmemorable meal over dramatic candlelight. In between the awkward silences, Val asked Dex and I all types of questions about life in Miami. After turning her nose up at Dex’s admission that he was a painter and I his assistant, she stuck to questions about the weather and nightlife, prattling off a list of upscale Miami restaurants she’d heard great things about.

Dex handled the entire thing perfectly. He was cordial, polite, and ready to answer her questions with an informational tone. He smiled through the entire conversation, his cheeks dimpling every time, but I could see the strain around his eyes and the slight clenching of his jaw.

I kept my end of the conversation short, speaking only when spoken too and taking care not to mention too much about my personal life in Miami. I didn’t want to share those things Valerie or anyone else in the house. Miami was mine. I wouldn’t have them tarnish the life I made there with their displeasure.

My leg shook up and down continuously throughout the meal, I was eager to see my father. Not to embrace him or even check on his condition, but to understand why he asked to see me.

A large part of me still wished his near-death experience incited a newfound need in him to apologize for the way he had treated me. He was my father, I wasn’t sure if I could ever fully stop seeking his love. While my heart constricted at the thought of possibly having a relationship with him, my head knew I couldn’t get my hopes up. There was something he wanted, some piece of my life and my livelihood he wanted to take away from me. That had to have been the only reason he asked for me.

Another women, older with graying hair and a pair of blue scrubs entered the dining room. “He’s awake, Mrs. Reed,” she spoke to Valerie. “I’ve told him his daughter is here.” She looked over at me and smiled a bit. “He wants to see her.”

I shot up out of my seat. “Take me to him.”

The woman nodded before leading me up the stairs to one of the many spare bedrooms.

“Don’t get him too excited, he’s still very weak,” she spoke before walking back the way we came.

I took a deep breath before opening the door, preparing myself for what was about to come.

Even weak, post heart attack, and bed-ridden, my father’s presence was foreboding. His blonde hair was slightly messier and his normally tanned skin seemed pale and gray. A dark part of me reveled at how bad he looked.

He set down the newspaper he was reading and took the reading glasses off of his nose. “Rosaline, my girl!” he exclaimed, shocking me. “Come here.” He patted the space next to him on the plush bed.

I planned to keep my distance, hoping that staying as far from him as I possibly could while in the same room would allow me to keep my wits about me. My feet moved on their own, carrying me over to where he sat.

“Hello, Dad.” My voice was shaky.

My father reached out to pat my hand, his palm weak and clammy. “Valerie tells me you’ve been in Miami.”

“Yes.” I nodded.

“And what have you been doing there?”

“Um…” I cleared my throat. “I’m an assistant actually. To an artist.”

He sighed. “Oh, Rosaline.” His tone was disappointed. “You threw everything away to be someone’s assistant?”

I knew he didn’t want me to answer, but I did anyway. “As opposed to what, Dad? Being Daniel Bennett’s wife?”

“Watch your tone with me, Rosaline Reed.” His voice was sharp and harsh. The sweet, caring father was gone in an instant, and in his place was the man I had always known.

He softened his tone again. “You had so much potential.”

“Yes, I did,” I agreed. “ But you were never going to let me live up to it.”

“That’s nonsense.” He dismissed me. “I orchestrated a good life for you. Better than the one you would have gotten had I never picked you up from that dump your mother left you in.”

I fucking hated it when he brought up my mother. “Don’t bring her into this. She didn’t leave me anywhere, she died.”

My father’s hand tightened slightly around my wrist, not enough to bruise but enough to show dominance. This was new. “I’ll do what I goddamn please in my own house.”

I was getting impatient, we weren’t heading towards any sort of breakthrough here, only more fighting and anger. I snatched my hand away from his grasp. “Why did you want me to come back here, Dad?”

“It’s time for you to grow up, Rosaline.”

“I’m not sure what you mean.”

“Of course you do. It’s time to come home. I’m done letting you galavant across the country. No daughter of mine is going to spend her life as someone’s fucking secretary.”

“Well I guess it’s good that I’m not a fucking secretary then.” I was getting fed up.

He pointed a finger at me, his face suddenly puffy and red. “You watch your mouth when you speak to me.”

I stood up from the bed. “I’m not leaving Miami. I don’t care what you want. I’ve made a life there. I have a job and an apartment and a loving boyfriend and friends. I’m not leaving all that to come back here and be miserable with you and Daniel fucking Bennett.”

My father yelled from his spot on the bed. “You will do what I goddamn tell you to do!”

“Or what?” I screamed back.

He said nothing as he looked at me with widened eyes. I had never spoken to him that way before, I’d barely ever uttered a word against him. I had been weak. Afraid to stand up for myself, afraid of what might happen to me if he decided he didn’t want to put up with me anymore. I had been afraid of everything. That little girl who had been taken from the one bedroom apartment she shared with her loving mother had been thrust into an unfamiliar world with unfamiliar people and instead of facing it head-on, she chose to hide away.

I was ashamed of myself for letting him push me around for so long. I hated that I never took the time or the effort to demand to be treated fairly and to take what I wanted for myself.

I was tired of seeking his approval and telling myself I was doing the opposite I was tired of searching for love in a man who didn’t know how to give it. I made a life for myself, it was messy and new and ridiculous, but it was mine. Dex, my apartment, Nora and Cam, and all of the friends and memories still waiting to be made. I loved all of it, more than I had ever loved anything and I sure as hell wasn’t going to let Christopher Reed take it away from me.

My voice was calm when I spoke again. “I’m going to go back downstairs and finish my meal with my boyfriend and Valerie. First thing in the morning we’re leaving and I’m not coming back.” I narrowed my eyes at him, daring him to speak again. “I’m not going to marry Daniel; I’m not going to be anyone’s fucking trophy wife.”

I stared at him straight on, holding his angry gaze. “You’ve controlled my entire life with no thought to how I felt about it and I let you because I wanted you to love me. But I’m done seeking your approval. I have a life that I’m finally proud of any it may not be much but I did it without your help.” I smiled a bit. “I don’t know whether you love me or not and I don’t know if I’ll ever stop wishing you knew how to show it, but I’m done letting you walk all over me.” I cleared my throat and squared my shoulders. “And I won’t be coming back here until you learn to respect me. But I won’t hold my breath because I’m not confident you actually know what that word means.”

With one last huff I made my way back downstairs, the weight on my chest finally beginning to lift.