The Good Daughter

Thirty

"What have you done?"

I silently thanked Bonnie for the boundary spell that prevented Elijah from coming in, that's if he was invited in, in the first place as the deed was already transferred. "You strung my brother up."

"I'll give you one opportunity to walk out of that house, just one."

Shit, I was going to regret this. "No."

He set his hands on his hips. "Shall I count to three?"

"Don't treat me like a child."

My heart was in my throat.

"Then behave as an adult. These little rebellions of yours will stop. Immediately. I have already been too lenient."

"You've gone too far."

"Or perhaps not far enough." That worried me. If Damon was just Elijah starting to get creative, I'd hate to see what else he could conjure up. "Morgan Mikaelson, you will obey me."

"I won't play the good daughter anymore!" Why was it so much easier to stand up to other people than Elijah? My hands were shaking and a part of me wanted to listen to him, to beg for his forgiveness. "You want me to act like an adult? Fine. That means making my own choices, even if that means not returning to your side."

"If that is what you wish, then I suppose I'll have to take a page out of Niklaus' book."

Oh god. "What are you going to do?"

"Something you can avoid, if you give up this ridiculous attempt."

He wanted me to lose my nerve. "And what, we'll go back to playing happy family? We haven't had that since New Orleans."

It irked me the way he looked the picture of calm. "I believe once our house is in order, then we can have a semblance of what it was."

"No it won't. That version of me is gone, she died when I tasted true freedom. The kind where I didn't have to meet insane expectations or worry about lost tempers. I could simply. just. be."

"What would you have me do?" Elijah was humoring me. I knew he was.

He could easily burn me out of this house.

"Stop trying to control everything!" I crossed my arms. "I'm reaching out to you, as your daughter. Stop this madness. Using my brothers, my blood, against me is wrong."

But maybe he was actually listening to me this time.

"Please, Elijah."

"Yes well, unfortunately you won't be getting your way this time." I closed my eyes. "Step out."

"I had a feeling you would come, eventually. I made a few arrangements with the locals." It was insane, actually, how almost instantly he always knew when I was up to something. Like he had some sort of parental alarm. "You'll find that everyone has disappeared, including Elena. Something Nik won't be too happy about. I'm sure he'd love to know that it was your doing that sprung this plan into motion."

His brow lifted. "That sounds remarkably like a threat."

"Get him to release Stefan and maybe I'll give up the doppelgänger. I want my brother in this house, not compelled, and with his humanity back on."

"And if I don't?"

"Nik won't be able to make another hybrid. I'll let you break the news to him." I shut the door and took a slow, stuttering breath. This could all go very wrong, very quickly.

There were so many variables and I couldn't guarantee that any of the so called squad would listen to me and stay hidden until I could get Nik and Elijah to back off.

"Are you okay?" Bonnie.

"No." Damn it. My voice shook. God, I needed to sit down. "I- um, I've never done that before." I put my back to the door and slowly lowered myself to the ground. "Oh my god." Did I make the biggest mistake of my life? Why couldn't I just listen? I placed a hand over my mouth, trying desperately to hold myself together.

It was all too much.

Could I really betray one family for another?

There wasn't much I could do now. The damage had been done.

"You didn't tell us you were using Elena as bait."

I swallowed. "I'm not. Using her name is not the same thing. She's in no danger as long as she stays put."

"How can you be so sure?"

"This is a battle of wills." One I wasn't absolutely certain I'd win. "Stefan is nowhere near as important to Nik as Elena." Her questions were actually helping me get ahold of myself and push down my fear.

"If this backfires-"

That made me laugh. "If this backfires, I'll be gone. Whether that's in a coffin or somewhere far away."

"You plan on running?"

"It's the only way."