Daddy's Little Girl

61. Cracks.

KEIRA's POV

"When are you going to come back?" Natasha asked me as I threw my small bag of skincare into my box. I had another set at home, but I wasn't sure if they had the same essentials since I didn't do the shopping.

"I don't know, I'll be attending classes from there and try to spend as much time as I can afford with my dad," I had realised how little the time we humans had together was when I got that call from the hospital.

I mean, I had always known. I was very aware of how it felt. After all, Mother had left. And then brother too. But my father had always given me the idea of being like a mountain that wasn't movable or anything.

So, this heart attack was a harsh clap back into reality.

"Okay then, be good, okay?" Natasha said as she pulled me in for a hug. She smelled like lavender every time, and I took a deep whiff as if I wanted her scent to live with me forever.

It wasn't like I wasn't going to see her any time soon. We were all in the same faculty, so despite our different courses, I was still going to meet them at some point.

"Where's Brandon?" I looked around the living room as I dragged my box. I had told both of them about my plans to move back home, and I had sort of expected him to be here also.

"He has a life too, Keira," Natasha said, and the sharp sting in her voice had me turning back to look at her.

"Did I do something?" I asked instinctively, and I combed through my memories quickly as I tried to see if I had done anything out of line to him recently.

I came up with nothing, and so I kept my gaze fixed on her as I waited for her to answer.

"I don't mean it that way, girl. I'm just saying everyone has a life. You can't expect him to be here all the time your ass needs some backup or rubbing." Her tone had less spite to it this time. Coupled with the shrug, I knew I had no choice but to let it go.

"Okay, I'll call him later when I'm home."

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The drive home was short, and I spent half the time replaying a lot of things in my head.

"Welcome," one of the maids rushed to grab my luggage and greeted me politely. I raised my brows in curiosity. It was almost like she had been waiting for me.

"Your dad is already waiting for you in the study. He informed everyone that you would be back anytime soon," she explained quickly. Confirming my guess.

I nodded, passing her my bag after pulling my cell phone out of it and went up straight to Father's study.

Father was seated with his back turned against me, gazing at the scene outside of his office. From his office, one could get a perfect view of the garden.

A garden that mom spent almost all of her days in. And a garden that I had never stepped into for the past three years.

Father turned before I even tried to get his attention. And I let out a soft sigh of relief as I saw that his colour looked a lot better from the last time I saw him.

"Emma said you wanted me to come up here immediately. Is anything the matter?"

I sat down on the only couch in his home study, folding my legs in a yoga position while Dad adjusted his seats so that he was looking at me directly.

"I know that you have been curious about what happened with Matt," he started, and it was hard to lie to him with his eyes peering at me so intensely.

"I was, now the only important thing is making sure you don't think about anything and that you are fine," Papa let out a short bout of laughter, quickly loosening the air in the room and I felt my shoulders sag a little too.

"You have always been a bad liar, Keira." Father teased and I flushed red at being caught.

"Matt called to warn me about exposing some false evidence he has with him. He also wants me to send him some huge amounts of money to some foreign accounts."

The bastard!

"How could he dare to come back to demand money from you?" I forced myself not to yell.

In the last three years, more than anyone, I have hoped that the bastard had been run over by some car and was now about twenty feet underground.

Guess I finally have a first-hand experience of how resilient despicable people can be when it comes to survival.

"Would you be giving him?"

"The money," I added right after.

"I'm still thinking about it. It's a lot of money, Keira." Father averted my eyes before replying, a hint that he was lying or, most likely not telling me the whole truth.

"Why don't we call the police? Surely he would be easy to track with that money, unlike the last time he absconded," I had seen how things like that worked in books and movies.

Surely, there had to be some resemblance of reality in them, right?

"We can't do that. Matt has a hold on us at the moment," Father argued immediately.

I nodded in understanding, despite not understanding anything, but I knew for certain that I had no other choice at this point.

But I also couldn't help but wonder. Did 'us' mean the both of us or did it mean Dad and the company?

"We can only think of the best way to fight him. And that's exactly why I called you here, Keira."

I subconsciously leaned forward a little more, curious about what it was that he wanted to say with how grave his tone sounded.

"There's only you left for me.. considering my recent attack, I'll have to slowly let down the reins of the company and delegate more duties. I don't trust anyone enough for that," Dad said and I could swear by the heavens that I felt my heart drop from my rib cage.

"At least, for now." He added and my brows raised up.

"Do you have a list of people that you are considering?"
"I'm thinking of creating one. I think we would need someone that can stand in the gap for you until you are ready to assume your position."

We have talked about this topic more than five times in the last three years. There were three things I was sure about on this topic.

One, it never, never ended well. I had no interest in being the chairperson of such a huge corporation.

Second, nothing was changing my father's mind.

And lastly, this time was certainly a lot more serious than all the other days.

The idea of some stand-in didn't appeal to me. Certainly not. But if it was going to buy me some more time, Hell, yes!
"Okay, Dad, I'm fine with that."

Father said nothing for the next few minutes, only staring at me and gazing away. Eventually, he let out a deep sigh and then looked back in my direction.

"Do you know? You are so much like her. Sometimes, I ask myself what she would want for you in a situation like that before I take action."

"But, I also want you to be your own person. And I know you are still healing, trying to get back from something that heartbreaking," his voice broke a little, and Father looked away, unwilling to have me see him as his emotions fell apart.

"This time, Keira, I'm not sure the world is going to be giving you as much time as you want. You might have to grow stronger even faster than you can imagine, my princess."