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Chapter Sixty-Five: Maggie

"None of your fucking business,"

I felt my knuckles practically turn white with the way I was gripping the railing of the stairs so hard, as I refused to turn around and meet his eye, but his presence alone was too palpable.

Despite the distance between us, I still feel like he was cornering me and breathing down my neck, like a predator trapping its prey. But I refuse to be overpowered by this man, to let him assert his dominance over me and to be a puppet of his strings.

That he could stomp down on me and keep me in one place, but I don't wanna give him that much power over me. Not now and not over my dead fucking body.

"What the hell do you think you're doing here?" I hissed as I glared at him from the corner of my eye, but even if I wasn't completely facing him, I just know a certain smugness was etched on that face of his.

"Well, for starters, I bought this house-"

"Don't you fucking dare say some condescending bullshit, I swear to God." I swiveled around and stared menacingly at him, "Don't you dare come back here and try to claim this house as your own, for it's the least you could've done after you abandoned us."

I arched a challenging brow at him as I crossed my arms over my chest "Unless that is, you also wanna take this house with you when you leave again, once and for all? Put the cherry on top of being the worst father of all time? If so, be my guest, it's not the first time you've shown how truly heartless you are."

It seems as though I've finally succeeded at hitting a nerve I never thought existed as he took a step back and clenched his jaw, just the littlest bit, but the agitation was evident on his face as he spoke "I can rest assure you that I am not going to take this house with me when I leave, and for that matter, I am also not leaving until you agree to come with me, Maggie."

I snickered, shaking my head dismissively at him "You just love saying the most absurd nonsense today, don't you?"

I didn't even give him the chance to respond as I turned my back on him and went straight up to my room, with the sole purpose of packing up my belongings to leave for tomorrow as I had planned. "I'm serious, Maggie." he called out to me as I ignored him.

I opened my room and locked it before he could even have the chance to barge in, thinking if he got the slightest hint of my upcoming whereabouts he'll go ballistic, so I might as well get this over with.

I pulled out a suitcase from the top of my closet, throwing it onto my bed as I unzipped it. I then returned to the clothes hanging on the racks behind me and tossed them all in a pile, thinking I'll get back to that soon, but for now, I need to hurry.

The lingering doubt of whether or not this was a good idea was still itching restlessly on the back of my mind, my paranoia not failing to chastise me for my lack of consideration, for a moment I paused to digest the situation in all of its entirety and tried to think to myself if this was really the last resort.

But the banging on the doors broke me out of my reverie as I came back to reality and resumed back to the task at hand, realizing if I wanted to leave without anyone being suspicious and with enough time to write an explanation letter to mom then I should-

I jumped when the locks to my bedroom door forcefully clicked open as my father walked into the room, appearing every bit infuriated as his gaze narrowed into slits.

Without even giving me the chance to curse at him due to the damages he's done to my poor door, he shut me up as soon as he was quick to take notice of the disarray of clothes scattered messily onto my bed.

His eyes darted from my frenzied state as well as the suitcase stuffed with all of my belongings before he somewhat got the hint of what's happening "Where do you think you're going, Maggie?"

Swallowing nervously at the way his voice deepened with immense authority, I brushed him off as I turned back around and returned to packing up my belongings "Again, none of your damn business-"

"Maggie, I mean it, where the hell do you think you're going?" he growled in clear frustration as I scoffed at his tone just to spite him "You're going to go somewhere with that Evan boy, aren't you? You're going to throw away your life for that godforsaken imbecile-"

"You don't fucking know him," I said through gritted teeth "You have no right to speak up about Evan when he is so much more of a man than you'll ever be-"

"He won't be able to take care of you, Maggie. He's just one of those hopeless teenage boys who think that the world is at their bidding just because their parents allow them to do whatever they want, I mean, have you seen his parents? They're a bunch of shallow, ego-driven idiots who make the poorest decisions to hoard as much wealth they can lay their hands on, even if it means selling off their son. Why do you think I declined to work with them in the past?"

"This isn't about you and your affiliation with the Williams, I know them better and longer than you do so it's safe to assume whatever nonsense you're spewing out is complete bullshit."

He laughed dryly "Nonsense? I've known them for years, Maggie. I keep track of the inadequacy that family is known for as well as that Evan boy's shenanigans back at your school."

I froze mid-way into zipping up my suitcase at the mention of Evan and Henderson High "You think I don't know?" my father added, the disdain in his voice apparent as I gulped "You think I don't know their son's long history of flings with women who deemed him to be irresponsible and controlling? I've even heard that he's gone out of his way to lay a hand on one of them-"

"You don't know him, you just use his past to create assumptions about him when you don't know how much he's grown over the past few months-"

He let out a scornful heap of laughter at that, my blood boiling at the sound "Of course he'll do anything to make it seem like he's trying to change for you! That's what spoiled teenage boys like him are good at, making you think that they're good enough for you when in the end, they'll just discard you like the rest of the women he's been with! Come on, Maggie! Open your eyes!"

I let the ends of my lips curl into a taunting grin as I turned to him "And you seem to know this from past experiences too, I presume?"

Taken aback, I used his shock to push my way out of the room, colliding his shoulder with mine in a quick shove as I sprinted my way downstairs with him hot on my trail a few seconds later.

"I can't believe you're letting this goddamn boy cloud your judgment, Margaret! In all the years I've watched you grow up, I never would've thought I'd live to see the day where you act like a goddamn fool and let some insignificant boy ruin your life and for what!"

"Can you just fucking shut up?!" I bellowed as I faced him "You don't know him enough to tell me he won't be able to be there for me when he's been the only one who cared enough to stay by my side when everybody left me to fend for myself in times where I needed help the most! And unlike you, he makes the effort to try and redeem himself and show how he's willing to change and be a better person!"

"Stop trying to project your incompetence as a man onto him because when I tell you he is the farthest thing from what you were when you were his age, I mean it." I scorned "As a matter of fact, Evan is a thousand times better as a man than you will ever be, and his parents? They've been more attentive to my well-being as their future daughter-in-law than you ever were in the past seventeen years you watched me grow up."

Eyes wide, he seemed genuinely offended by my words as I took that as my chance to spite him even more "So don't speak on the Williams acting as if you're any better when the entire year I've had with them as a new-found family has been a million times more worthwhile than the time I've had you pretending to act like a father who gave a shit."

I turned on my heel and was about to reach for the doorknob and make my way out when his threatening voice stopped me in my haste before I could even place one foot outside.

"... You care so much for that family then? Would do anything to repay them for their so-called kindness?" he asked in a sly yet devious tone as my brows knitted together in confusion.

"What are you-"

"Because if you care about them so much to not want anything to happen to them, I advise that you don't place another foot out of that door, because as soon as you do, Maggie? I'll make sure that when you leave this house to run back to that boy to try and live the happy life you two think you're going to have, is that his parents' lives are going to be anything but fucking easy."

My hands shook at his sudden implication as I turned around to face him "You fucking wouldn't." I hissed as he just grinned in return, a slight but wicked grin as he jutted his chin forward in a mock challenge.

"I don't say things for the heck of it, Maggie." he declared in a low, vehement tone as he gestured to my outstretched hand that was still gripping the door as if my life depended on it.

"So it's either you stay where you are now, or I make sure that the next time you see that family again, you're going to see them in ruins." he added "Your choice."

My heart was pounding violently against my chest, so much that I could feel the blood rush to my ears. I was numb, so painstakingly numb as I just remained immobile on my spot, not knowing what course of action I'm going to take next as my eyes started to sting.

"Please," I pleaded in a weak voice as he shook his head.

"Let go of the door, Maggie," he ordered as I choked out a sob, willing myself to drop my suitcase onto the floor as it landed with a loud thump, struggling to comply with his demand as he just watched me with a piercing gaze until finally... I did it.

I released the doorknob and left everything I was ready to take with me an hour ago behind just like so. My belongings, my dignity but most of all... my freedom.

As I took a step forward towards him, not once looking back.

He smiled "That's my girl."

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