I squeezed my eyes shut. I didn’t want to do this.

I didn’t want to hear whatever speech he had prepared, whatever half-hearted excuse he was about to throw my way.

“You don’t want us together,” I strangled out. “Just admit it.”

“I don’t. Not now. Maybe not ever.” His voice cracked, as if the words hurt him just as much as they hurt me.

I turned to face him, my vision swimming, and for a second I thought I saw regret in his expression. But regret wasn’t enough. “You want us unhappy,” I accused.

“I want you both to avoid pain,” he shot back.

“You don’t think I’m good enough for Beverly,” I whispered, the words tasting like poison as they left my tongue. “Admit it. That’s what this is about, isn’t it? You think I’m like my father. You think I’ll hurt her because there’s some monster inside of me too.”

“No,” he retorted fiercely. “You are nothing like him.”

“You’re a liar.”

“I would never lie about that,” he snapped, stepping closer. “You are not him.”

“You pity me every day,” I said, my voice cracking as all the ugly insecurities I had spent years burying clawed their way to the surface. The ones I had desperately tried to hide, pretending they didn’t exist, hoping that if I ignored them long enough, they would simply vanish into the background of my mind. “I see it in your eyes. It’s condescending. You don’t think I notice, but I do. You make me feel inferior when you look at me that way. You won’t move on from that part of my life, even though I’ve spent every damn day trying to.”

His face softened, but it only made my stomach twist harder. “Because it reminds me to be human,” he argued. “To cherish you and your sister⁠—”

His throat bobbed as he swallowed, and for a moment, he looked truly lost. “I’m not trying to upset you, Blake.”

I let out a broken, bitter laugh, shaking my head. “Then let me have her.” My voice trembled as I whispered the next words, barely able to get them out. “Please, Dad. Let me love her.”

His eyes were rimmed red. “Blake—” He cut himself off, and somehow, that hurt worse than if he had just said no.

I searched his face, waiting for him to take it back, to tell me he’d been wrong. That he did believe in us. That he did think I was capable of loving Beverly the way she deserved.

But he didn’t.

He honestly didn’t want me with her.