Book 1 in the Adoration Series
*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ
Adeline Dubois is drowning. Fast.
She has tried to keep her head above the water, but every time she was able to get the smallest bit of air, she was dragged back under by the waves.
A familiar face from her...
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My father is staring at Mom and I with a calm look, his arms crossed over his chest and his legs spread wide as he leans back against the seat. Mom also has her arms over her chest, still dressed in the white button up shirt and light blue pencil skirt she wore to work. My hands are on my laps, doing my best to keep my hatred for the first man I ever loved at bay.
To the people walking past us in the bustling Italian restaurant, this seems like a normal family dinner. A loving father sitting across from the two most important women of his life. They're blind to all the tension that's between us. The years of arguments, pain and grief aren't visible to the untrained eye. To me, it's almost palpable.
Mom decided that we should meet up with him on a Wednesday night right after finishing work. She's left Evie to make dinner for herself and Rosa, while the two of us discuss this new situation with her ex-husband.
The past few days have only solidified my resentment for him. Not only is he an annoying bastard that doesn't deserve anything that he has, his future daughter is just as cunning as he is. It's only made the need to find my way back into his life and rip it apart from the inside even stronger, leaving him with nothing.
My mind has been trying to find ways that I can get the revenge I've desperately craved for the past five years on him since Monday, and the only thing I can come up with is starting by doing all that I can to hurt Sophia.
"Je m'attendais à ce que mes filles soient ici aussi, Camille," he states, taking a sip from the glass of water filled with ice.
(Translation: I was expecting my daughters to be here as well, Camille.)
A light smile appears on Mom's face, one that shows how much she resents this man. Over the years, she's learned to appear calm all the time, despite all the emotions she truly feels. It's almost a requirement for lawyers to keep calm. The same could go for my father. A doctor can't lash out at their patient, no matter how ungrateful they may sound as they complain. All he can do is keep on his stoic expression and take all the words thrown at him.
Those words never reached his heart. Instead, they travelled through his cells and reached his fists, the anger being let out through hurting me. And now, he's passed that aggression to me. I crave to make others feel even an ounce of the pain he's put me through, so I do what's been directed towards me at a young age.
Like father, like daughter.
"Pourquoi les amènerais-je à une conversation pour adultes?" Mom asks, raising a perfectly straight brow.
(Translation: Why would I bring them to an adult conversation?)
His eyes land on my figure, narrowing slightly as he gazes into the eyes that reflect his own. "Alors pourquoi mon aîné est-il ici?"
(Translation: So why is my eldest here?)
"Vous avez indiqué la raison dans la phrase," I reply, tilting my head to the right. The deep breath he takes almost makes me smirk. Pissing him off for the next few months until I strip away all that he has will by the highlight of my year.
