❝Are my screams loud enough for you to hear me?❞
↪Tony Stark is known to be many things, but only few people know that being a father is one of those, and sometimes he seems to forget it too.
Being the daughter of a genius, billionaire, playboy and...
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It's been a month since James had arrived at her house, and he was unwilling to leave. Many, too many things had happened in just one month. Her father had given Pepper the role of CEO that she was entitled to, and she had discovered it thanks to the newspapers. The woman who for years acted as her mother did not even have the decency to call her to warn her, nor the decency to refuse the role. She never would have thought that Pepper would turn her back on her, too. She, too, had turned out to be a profiteer, just like her mother. Because of this the young Stark had become really irritable and the unwanted presence of her maybe boyfriend only made the situation worse. All she wanted to do right now was go out and get drunk. Because obviously she could no longer drink as much as she liked in the presence of future cop James-pain-in-the-ass-Gordon.
"We need to talk" James said suddenly.
Carina turned to him and could see that the boy was agitated.
"Carina, I understand that you may be angry with your father, with Pepper and with the whole world, but it's been weeks now, isn't it better to let it go?"
"Let it go? Let it go!" Why was he so stupid that he didn't understand? "You don't understand anything, James! You do not know what I have been through, you were, and you are just an external spectator who has only seen what I have let you see" she growled angrily "I hate my dad for not giving me a happy childhood, I hate my dad for making the present suck and I hate him for taking away my future too. Stark Industries was my future, all I have left of my family, my grandparents, but he threw it away"
"You can build your future, Carina. You don't need Tony or Stark Industries to create the future you deserve" he said taking her hands in his.
"You're right, I don't need Tony or the Stark Industries to create my future" she said making him smile "But I don't need you either"
His smile faded "What do you mean?"
"Just what you think" she said removing her hands from his and getting up from the couch "I don't need anyone to build my future and I don't even need you standing next to me, especially when you don't understand me"
"What are you talking about, Carina? I understand you and love you despite everything" he said trying to get closer to her, but she moved further away.
"Despite everything" she scoffed "Since you arrived I am no longer myself, you have changed me and I don't like it. If I change it is because I want it"
"Oh, so being an alcoholic and a mess like your dad are traits you're not happy to get rid of with my help" he scoffed.
"I know what game you're playing, James, and I let you play for a while, but remember that I'm the one who manipulates people. Now take your things and leave, I don't want to see you again"
"Carina, you don't really want--"
"Get out!" She yelled.
The boy did not have it repeated again, he went to their room and took everything he had brought.
"Keep it up, you're great at pushing people away" he said walking to the exit door.
"Better alone than with an asshole like you"
"Then I wish you a good life in your solitude, Carina" he said before slamming the door behind him.
Carina strode to her precious cupboard where she kept the alcohol. She took a glass and poured herself quite a bit and drank it all in one gulp. She had missed the sour taste of that delicious poison, it was the only one who knew how to help her lighten the burden she carried within her.
Nobody seemed to understand her, despite her trying to explain what she was feeling, but obviously if she herself didn't know what it was what she was feeling, how could others understand her? Maybe Tony was the only one who could understand her, after all, from what Rhodey had told her, he hadn't had a particularly easy childhood either. But then if Tony himself didn't like the life his father made him lead, why did he reserve the same fate for her? As much as she hated Tony unfortunately she was his carbon copy, he had taken the character, the vices and had followed his example. She could understand that in some ways James's intentions were good, but they hadn't been applied in the right way. She knew that the way of life she led was not healthy, that she had to change, but change for whom? For herself? She didn't care about living or dying, she only cared about one thing, if she had to live long, she had to do it great.
Someone knocked on the door making her sigh heavily, nobody wanted to leave her alone. Irritated, she went to open the door.
"James, I told you to--" Carina froze "What are you doing here?"
"Hello to you too dear, is this the welcome you reserve for your dear mother?" Androsilla exclaimed, entering the apartment.
"How did you find out where I live?" Carina asked.
"Honey, please, I know all about my daughter, what a reckless mother would I be otherwise?"
"What do you need?"
"Well, if we really have to start like this..." the woman sighed, sitting down on the couch "You know, I was in Capri, happy with the life I was leading when magically there was no money left on my credit card"
"This happens when you spend more than you can afford" Carina said pouring herself a drink again.
"Maybe it could happen to others" Androsilla shrugged "But this can't happen to me! Your father and I had a deal"
"What do you want from me, Androsilla?!" Carina shouted "Because I don't know if you noticed, but I'm not Tony, I'm not the one who has to repair the damage he did"
"But your birth wasn't a damage, honey, at least not for me" the woman smirked devilishly "you know, I was about to call Tony, when I got word that he promoted his secretary to CEO, Poppy I think her name was" the woman got up from the sofa and slowly approached her daughter "So, how does it feel to find yourself with nothing left?"
Carina looked at her impassively, she would not have given her any satisfaction.
"You can be as impassive as you want my dear, but I see in your eyes how wounded your pride is, a bad stab in the back, isn't it?" She chuckled "By whom then? From the one person you trusted, the same person who raised you"
