ather's office, slamming the door

his desk. "You can't seriously expect me to go thro

ooking businessman, barely glanced up from the stack of p

eaned forward. "I'm not playing, Dad

ience and combing through his ash-black hair with h

rry someone else-anyon

ctly why this is happening. The Laurents and the Astors have been intertwin

my life? My future? What about the fact that the person you're f

h mild irritation. "You and

d after that? Do you not remember the endless days where he made my life a misery?

ere kids. He was a boy figuring

to fists. "He slep

he office. A tense,

sion unreadable. Then he shrugged. "So w

ight now? He humiliated me, Dad! Every single day of high school! Do you even re

TO

ifting. His eyes bore into hers, cold and unyielding. "Not

ing with rage. "You really don't care, do

stead of throwing a tantrum, you would too. It's five years, Cele

up for a gym membership. Five years is a

emples as if I were exhausting him. "The Astors

. "A CHILD?! I don't re

u didn't ha

n horror. "Then t

ent naivety. "Celeste, be serious. We don't let outsi

We are not royals, Dad. This isn't so

"I have work to do, and frankly, I've heard enough of this tantrum. You can

breathing heavy, my vis

e door behind me. If I had been furious at the e

a pawn in their perfe

e game