Casing ✔️

Chapter 25

Durfair.

It was like my life flashed before my eyes—even the part I hadn't lived yet. I saw James smiling at me, his stupidly cute dimples shining down as he spun me around, as if we were dancing. I could see his parents' mansion become a home, and even if the fantasy scared me, it hurt my heart that my chance to reject another of his proposals was gone.

For now.

Just driving me to a different city couldn't stop me from going back, anyway. What sort of plan was this? It would be easy to leave and go straight back to Datoches if I wanted to.

Keeping my eyes on the landscape, I said nothing and kept myself still the whole way. Hours and hours where I just stared at trees, mountains and rivers, and cars and buses and trains.

My thoughts were all over the place, too. Moving from being completely in shambles over how anyone could just force me away like this, to how little thought out this plan was, and to how much I wanted to be in James' arms again. I...I missed him. And maybe it was the fear of the situation, but I actually wanted to see if he was right all along—if we would truly end up together.

I had moments of panic here and there, too, reminding myself that all my books weren't with me, should this turn out to be hard to get out of. I didn't even have my e-reader, and that hurt probably a little more than the betrayal I felt from my father and sister.

Did that make me bad?

Probably a little, but it said more about my family than me. At least, that's what I told myself to keep me from beating myself up during the way-too-long drive. And I had to keep sane, unless I wanted to lose my mind on the way back.

I had to have actually fallen asleep for a little while, because I woke up to the car stopping, and the sound of raised voices. Nina looked as disoriented as me when I looked at her briefly, before finding the source of the voices outside.

Hank stood there, talking to the driver, with his phone to his ear. There were more men, too, and a woman. Diana—I recognized her from the warehouse. She looked bored and indifferent, but her eyes met mine through the window, and she gave me a subtle wink.

What was that supposed to mean?

I decided not to dwell on that and tried to open the car door, but it was locked. So I resorted to banging on the glass, and yelling nonsense to get their attention. Diana rolled her eyes and put her hand inside the driver's pocket, then the door clicked open and I jumped out, anger staining my cheeks red.

"What the hell is this supposed to mean, uncle Hank?" I asked, putting too much pressure on the last two words, trying to get him to feel bad.

"Elina, please," he started back, but I heard dad's angered voice on the phone and grabbed it from his hand, just in time for dad to utter, "Make sure she's not going anywhere, she's not allowed to ruin the life I built for her."

"This is low, dad," I said, glaring daggers at the man who'd helped raise me. "I'm going back to Datoches, and I'm staying so damn far away from you."

I chucked the phone at Hank and turned around, only to crash into a wall of muscle. Two men stood there, each grabbing one of my arms, effectively lifting me off the ground.

"You're not going anywhere, Elina," Hank said behind me. "Your name is on the lease to that apartment you were looking at, and you're enrolled to start classes next Monday. Kevin chose literature for you."

Responsibilities in my name. It would be my ass if any of that went down the toilet.

But how could they just do this? Pick me up, literally, and put me down into a completely new life? One I'd said I didn't want—one they agreed I had to choose for myself.