Behind us, out in the corridor, I can hear the noise of the removal men approaching, but Dad doesn’t seem to give a fuck. He tugs me so close to him that my wrist presses against his stomach, and when he speaks his voice is a low rumble that only I could make out.
“You should have married Seb Hawkston like you were supposed to. Opened your legs forhim.” He clenches his other hand around my bare upper arm and shakes me. “At least that way I’d have got my fucking money.”
My throat swells, tears stinging my eyes. I always knew Dad was selling me, more or less, but to hear it explained so plainly hurts. I grit my teeth, refusing to break in front of him.
“He didn’t love me,” I say, my voice like stone. “I won’t marry someone who doesn’t love me.”
He lets out a harsh chuckle. “Your books teach you that too? Don’t be a fool, Diana. Love doesn’t exist. It’s a delusion. Don’t make your decisions for love.” He shakes me. “Money exists. Money isreal. Make your decisions for that.”
“So I can grow up to be a cold, heartless bastard like you?”
Dad’s nostrils flare, his free hand pulling back again.
I’ve broken him. At the ripe old age of twenty-one, I’ve pushed my father over the edge. He’s finally going to hit me.
I screw my eyes shut and wait.
“Mr Marchetti,” comes the voice of one of the removal men from directly behind me. “What do you want us to take next?”
Dad growls at the interruption, and with one final squeeze of my wrist, he releases me and directs himself to the removal men. “The bed. You can burn the fucking sheets too.”
A flicker on the man’s face is the only acknowledgement that Dad has said anything unusual.
“Call me when you’re finished,” Dad says, straightening his lapels and puffing his chest. “And you…” His mouth distorts as he looks at me. “Get the fuck off my property.”
He strides past me and out into the corridor.
I press a hand to my chest, steadying my breath. “Where am I supposed to go?” I call out to him.
He spins back to face me, all reddened cheeks and tremoring jowls. “I chose a life for you, and you didn’t want it.”
“Of course I didn’t want it. He didn’t love m—”
“Go and search for love, if that’s what you want. But you won’t use a penny more of my money to find it. I’ve housed you, clothed you, fed you… all of it for twenty-fucking-years, and I got nothing in return.Nothing.”
“Twenty-one. I’m twenty-one,” I say, voice nearly breaking.
He stares, and there’s not a hint of remorse in his gaze. “A bad investment. That’s all you’ve been to me. It’s all you’ll ever be, and I’m cutting my losses. You’re on your own. I don’t care where you go.” He marches back towards me until we’re almost chest to chest. “You think you can do better on your own? Go and fucking try.”
I blink back tears. “I will.” It sounds pathetic, the words distorted by the lump in my throat. I cough and begin again. “I will. I won’t just try. I’ll fucking do it. I’ll show you.”
He steps back with a low, mocking chuckle. “Go on, then. You’ve always been telling me what a great business woman you could be. How you could make an independent living and don’t need any man. Let’s see it in action.” He lets out another loud, rumbling laugh and points a gnarled finger at me. “I’ll be watching. And when you fail, when you lose the way I’ve lost, I’ll relish it. I will delight in your failure the way you’ve delighted in mine.”
“You… I…” I cup a hand over my mouth to stave off the sobs that want to break free. When I’m sure they won’t, I let it fall. “Fuck you.”
He snorts like a vengeful dragon and turns away.
For a few seconds, I do nothing but stare at his receding form, his suit jacket flapping as his firm steps thump against the carpeted hall.
My father, ladies and gentlemen.
I fucking hate him.
8
DIANA
Still shaking, I pick up my handbag and walk to the bedroom, waiting on the threshold as two men edge out with my bed frame, heaved up on its side. Another two follow with the mattress, and when they’re gone, I step into my bedroom. My collection of sex toys scatter the floor, as if every brightly-coloured one of them leapt from the bedside table as it fell to where it now lies, upended on the carpet. Condoms still sealed in their packets litter the floor.