405 A New Day – Part 2

~ ZARA ~

My mind went as blank as my laptop screen the day my computer died when I was typing an essay for my final at college and I lost three hours of work.

My heart rammed against my ribs harder than David had taken me last night in his fear.

I had no idea what had happened, but I knew that this was not what was supposed to be happening right now. And I had no idea how to fix it.

How the hell had he gotten here? And what should I do?

The room was silent for a moment as Abigail dropped a curtsey to my father who never took his eyes from me, while my mother stared at me from behind him.

"What… Dad…" I pretended the breathlessness came from laughter. "Very impressive… but… How?!"

"Please, Zara. Don't pretend to be stupider than you are. It's a true fault of our home culture when women do that." He flapped a hand at me and started walking slowly closer.