ar's

id, her tone as precise as the crease in her white blouse. "Political

have," I cut in, stabbing my

you were born to have, Skylar. You're not just our da

n power lunches, photo ops, and shaking hands with men who

s thinned. "Don

st. I don't want to spend my life in some overpriced suit, smiling for

ke the act required more control than he wanted to admit. "Medi

er on my tongue. "What is that, exactly? You

rowed. "Watc

noon: You're going to snap one day, Sky, and when you

wenty years. All it's gotten me is a life planned down to the

her wine glass. "Your future isn't something you can improvise. Politics is in yo

rs. And for me, that's medicine. Helping people when they're at their worst, not just

over the tabl

oble, but you haven't seen the reality. Years of s

delicate to get my hands dirty? Or is it that being a d

amily's name belongs in the political sphere. We've

, appetite gone. "Your

like a spark

ttend Rothmore. You will study International Relations. You will be p

me like I'm a campaign strategy, not your daughter. Every other person g

e and our investment. You have no idea how many peo

oor. "Then give it to them. Let someone else be your perfec

ice turned sha

decided for me, every step of the way. But I'm not a child anymor

from this family's path, you walk away from it

elves were siding with her. "Then I'll survive wi

ss on the stand. "You think independence is romantic. It's not. It's brutal. And

hen I won't be tem

ticking of the grandfather clock

ate. "You're young. You think you know yourself, bu

gh my chest ached with the weight of it.

e, my pulse poun

erous. "If you walk out now, understand that you

ood. Maybe for once, it'll be

my name, past the hall that always smelled faintly of polish and dust, past t

dn't move as smoo