Till Death Do Us Part | ON-HOLD

Chapter 57 : Bahaaduri

Heads up, guys: there's no rosary content in this chapter, but for obvious reasons. other stuff need to take place before their next interaction.

Also so so sorry! I'm an hour late with this chapter than when I said I'd post it (totally slipped my mind because I got busy with something else)

【 57.

Fifty-seven

Bahaaduri 】

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[ Bahaaduri • courage / bravery ]

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      ZACH SLAMS HIS office door shut with one hand while the other grips his phone tighter against his ears.

Senator Charles Davenport picks up on the third ring. “Zachary,” he greets in a formal fashion, probably the only one Zach knows who’s able to use someone’s first name and still maintain some professional barrier. “To what do I owe—?”

“You need to tell her,” he says, cutting right to the point.

There’s the briefest pause in the conversation. “I beg your pardon?”

Zach closes his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose as he exhales heavily. “Rose,” he explains, though he suspects Charles might have already figured out what he’s referring to. “You need to tell her. About Palm Street.”

“I always love being told what I need to do,” Charles says, sarcasm layered on so thick it might have been mistaken for sincerity. “Though it’s usually in regards to my position as Senator—not as a father. I guess there’s a first for everything, huh?”

Zach’s eyes fly open. Must it always come down to pride?

He sometimes wonders if there’s something wrong with him, with the way he so casually disregards his pride time and time again—almost to the point where he even questions its existence—whilst being surrounded by people who seem to value theirs like it’s an essential tool to their survival.

Sebastian has his pride, Mehreen too. It goes without question that Rose considers hers sacred, and it seems like her father regards his with importance as well. Zach doesn’t even need to ponder about Isabelle Davenport—only a fool would.

Taking in a deep breath to reel in his flare of anger towards the other man, Zach paces towards the tinted glass wall that allows him a view of the city, his hold on the phone turning steel-like while he balls up his other palm into a fist.

“I’m not trying to dictate your role as a paternal figure,” he tells the Senator with as much patience as he can muster, feeling the pressure of his annoyance build steadily behind his chest. He exercises all of his self-restraint on keeping that anger contained that it starts to impair his breathing.

There’s a deep sigh from the other side of the line. “I apologise,” Charles says then, sounding a little tired. The apology catches Zach a little off-guard, and upon detecting the tone of exhaustion in the man’s voice along with his words from earlier, he speculates that maybe he just called Rose’s father at the wrong time. Maybe there’s something going on at his end. But that isn’t Zach’s problem. Any area of work has its demanding times, especially when it’s in a political field. There are more pressing matters to address now.

“But what’s with this topic popping out of the blue?” Charles questions, sounding a little guarded now. More alert.

“Because Rose declared—out of the blue—that she’d like to go to Queens,” Zach says, voice grim. “And...” he trails off, running a hand roughly through his hair. “Things just went south.”