Blazing Trails

Chapter 20

"Dad . . ."

"Ari, I swear I didn't mean it the way that it came out." he said quickly, interrupting me.

"Then how exactly did you mean it dad? You know what you said in that room so I don't have to repeat anything. What exactly did you mean? You were more than ready to sell your daughters emotions to WWE for ratings." I argued.

"It had to be done, Stephanie and Paul were looking for a ridiculous amount of ways to get you to agree. I wasn't willing to let you lose your job so quickly, not after just coming back. If you didn't agree to it, they were going to find a reason, any reason, to fire you." he said.

"Fire me? They're not . . . she wouldn't do that." I argued.

"If you didn't give in they would've. The plan was to threaten to fire you to get her way but she was confident that you wouldn't make them get that far. You surprised the hell out of them when you did." he insisted.

"I can't believe this, I can't believe she would do that to me. I mean we aren't exactly the best of friends but we've known each other forever." I muttered, fighting back tears.

"I preferred for you to get mad at me and keep your job then for you to lash out at them and lose it all for real. Baby girl, I would never sell you out like that. I'm so sorry for making you feel that way, I would never hurt you like that."

"Daddy, I . . . I'm sorry for blowing up like that. I just . . . dad, I don't understand how you could agree to something like that after everything we've been through! It's too damn similar to our own real-life situation. I will never understand how you could do this to our family."

"It was bad storytelling I know, but it brings the views and ratings in. I'm sorry but once they decided on it there was no changing their minds."

"Where did they get it from, the idea?"

"Stephanie brought it up. I guess she took inspiration from real-life scenarios."

"That bitch, I'm gonna . . ."

"Do nothing, you're gonna do nothing because you'll lose your job. Don't think for a second that she'll hesitate."

"I can't let this just fly, she can't do this!"

"She already did, it's done Arianna."

"Sometimes I wonder if I made the right decision, coming back to the WWE." I told him, admitting something that had been bothering me since I found about this storyline.

"You what?" dad asked me, shocked.

"Sometimes I doubt my decision."

"Your fans love you, you love this."

"When I think of that I realize that I was made for this, just like you were but I can't help my thought process. I'm so sick of the damn politics, I've always known that I can't completely trust her but damn. This is a lot, even from her." I said.

"Are we okay, baby girl?"

"I'm no baby anymore, dad."

"I don't care how old you get, you'll always be my first baby girl."

"We're good, now go to mom. No more business during at home hours." I told him.

"I love you, Arianna." he said.

"I love you too, dad."

"See you Monday."

"Yes sir."

After hanging up with dad I changed into my pajamas, which was basically an oversized WWE t-shirt I fell back on the bed, watching some TV. Before I could start to get tired my phone rang, pulling me away from another NCIS marathon.