𝔇𝔞𝔴𝔫 𝔱𝔬 𝔇𝔲𝔰𝔨 (The Legacy Duet - 2)

Seco

𝕽aw.

Raw, terrified, and conflicted. That's what I felt when I picked my way back to my room. I hadn't bothered with dinner. I didn't know if he had either.

We'd barely made it an hour. It had taken all of thirty minutes for us to tear each other apart.

Kicking off my shoes, so much for wearing them, feelings of neglect hurt, and panic filtered through me. Somehow, I felt like I should find him and apologize for my harsh words. Another part of me rebelled from the idea. Why should I? He deserved those words.

He had played me. He had poked and prodded at a wound I'd long convinced myself didn't exist. This whole thing had been a game to him. And who could blame him? I'd played with his head, he'd played with mine.

He was just a lot better at it than I was.

More ruthless too.

Unzipping and tossing the dress on the chaise, my body collapsed on the bed, eyes on the ceiling. My relationship with Baba was a mess. We were just too alike. We were both headstrong, stubborn individuals, and to top it all off, I'd been cursed with my mother's temper.

But I loved him.

How could I not? Despite all of his flaws, he was still my father. He was still the man who had held my hand for my first day at school. The same man who'd championed me at my dance recitals. The man who had tried to balance his passion for his work and his love for his daughters, ignoring all the hearsay he heard from the people around him. The man who had taught me how to fight. To stand up for myself. How could I just disregard all the things he had done to hold him accountable for something he didn't do? Or something that was, in all fairness, beyond his capacity.

That little stunt had caused me to lose some of the best years of my life. Baba had succumbed to his upbringing, to the generalizations created by society and I'd suffered for it. Both of us knew he had broken my heart. His regret and apologies could never heal what he'd destroyed. And he hadn't tried. He hadn't tried to bridge that gap. The whole family had just collectively decided to move on. What else could we have done? There was no other option.

Until now.

Taimoor finally had what he'd wanted. What been pushing for. He wanted me to be selfish. Wanted me to give in to the darkness within me. Well, here it was. I hated his connection with my father. Hated how casually he had tossed that information at me, mocking me, using it like an arrow to pierce the small chunk in my armor. I loathed not knowing. I loathed being left out. I loathed being on the defensive. And the fact that he'd shared something with Baba made me jealous. It made me wildly possessive and jealous. Jealous that Baba had found someone worthy of his attention, maybe even his affection. That in Taimoor, he'd found someone he could share his passions with. Baba had probably gone out of his way to teach him how to play chess. Never had Baba once mentioned it. Not even when he was an employee at the company. Why didn't he tell me he had known him so intimately? That they had spent time together?