“In the meantime, you have a date this evening,” my father said.
“What?” I asked.
He shot me a look that should have prompted me to swallow my tongue. But all it did was fuel my anger.
They were setting me up on another fucking date!?
“There is a lovely gentleman that works in Mr. Wells’ company. He’s a bit younger. Up and coming. Graduated from Yale and was also educated at Cambridge. Comes from a good family and would make a suitable husband,” my father said.
“But that’s what you also thought about Mr. Wells,” I said.
My father shot me another look, but I wasn’t having it.
“Why in the world do I have to marry?” I asked.
“Ava, settle down,” my mother said.
“I’m not yelling and I’m not upset. I just want to know why I am expected to marry,” I said.
“Because that is your place, Ava. You are my beautiful daughter, and you will get nothing but the best. Mr. Wells was not the best, and it was to the courtesy of your brothers that you owe the dissolution of that proposal. I suggest you thank them,” my father said.
“I don’t think so,” I said. “Because me telling you I’m not ready to marry should’ve been enough.”
“That will be all, Ava,” my father said.
“No, no it won’t be.”
I stood to my feet as my brothers stood to theirs.
“The way this family operates is insane. We live in the twenty-first century, Dad. Women are running entire corporations,” I said.
“Not this again. Ava, I have explained to you why you cannot take over the family business,” my mother said.
“You have what?” my father asked.
“I’m not even talking about the family business! Dad, you’re trying to marry me off like I’m some sort of property to you. And I’m not. I’m not a business transaction. You can’t barter and borrow with my virginity,” I said.
“You will tone down that type of talking right this instance,” he said.
“And if I don’t?” I asked.
“Then you will be married to this man without so much as a courtesy date,” my father said.
“So if I listen to you, I’m married, and if I don’t listen to you, I’m doubly-married. Got it,” I said. “So if my circumstance doesn’t change, then I lose nothing by telling you this. I am a person who happens to have boobs. And just because you see Mom as property doesn’t mean I’m your property. I’m a grown women who wants to make decisions for her own life, and you rip those from me as if I’m your pet puppy. I want to be educated, but the only things I get are the literature classics and a brush-up in my table manners!”
“You will calm down this instant!” my father said.
“I will do no such thing! That’s fine if I can’t help out with the family business. My brothers are smart and fully capable of doing such a thing. But I will not allow you to marry me off without my permission! That might as well be considered torture!”
“Ava, what in the world has gotten into you?” my mother asked.
“A pair of balls, Mom. Something you should’ve grown a long time ago,” I said.
I heard my brothers snicker just before something cracked against my cheek. I could feel it stinging as Hunter cried out for me, my head whipping around on my neck. Tears sprang to my eyes as my hand came to my cheek, touching the burning skin as my father panted. I slowly looked back at him, watching his hand stay raised as if he was prepa
ring for another blow.
“I will not have you disrespecting me in my own house,” my father said. “I have raised you to be a proper woman. One who is respected, polite, and beautiful. I put you through the best schooling as a child and paid exorbitant amounts of money for you to have the best clothes and makeup and guidance I could afford. You will not throw it all back in my face because you have decided to be ungrateful.”