Devlin UnLeashed(30)
“I could send Nicholas to collect you. He’ll be your mentor at Callahan Corp for the next few months. If you’d like, he has extra room at his place. His roommate just moved and—”
“Dad,” I cut him off, trying to get a word in edgewise. “Don’t send Nicholas.”
I could already imagine how well having my ex-boyfriend move me out of Devlin’s place would go.
“Dad, I can’t—”
“T-bone steak?” The waiter interrupted. My dad raised his hand, and the waiter quickly set down our plates and left us. What ensued was the most awkward dinner I’d shared with my dad to date. I picked at my salmon while watching him devour his steak.
He dropped his napkin next to his empty plate and crossed his arms over his chest. “What aren’t you telling me, Juliana?” He pointed at me. “You’re fidgeting, and you barely touched your food.”
It was now or never.
“I can’t move back to Chicago.”
He titled his head, stared at me through narrowed eyelids, and shook his head. “You can’t, or you won’t?”
“It doesn’t make a difference. I’m not coming back.”
“But it does make a difference. ‘Can’t’ implies you have obligations here to attend to, and ‘won’t’ implies you have a choice, and choose to abandon the plans we’ve made for your future.”
“I don’t want to work at Callahan Corp, Dad.”
He pressed a finger to each temple and took a calming breath, but calm was far from where he currently was. “The only reason I agreed to send you across the country to go to college was because we agreed this university had a good business program and you’d have a chance at the freedom you wanted. You coming back to work at Callahan Corp was never up for negotiations.”
“I know,but—”
“Do you think you’ll be able to find a suitable position anything like I’m offering you here? You’re a Callahan, and I will not have you working for a competitor. I’ve invested in your education and even put you through our intern program while you were still in high school. Now what? You’re going to use the skills I gave you to go against me?”
I shook my head. “I’m not going to work for a competitor, Dad. I want to dance.”
He lifted his chin, frown lines appearing beside his eyes, clearly taken aback by my revelation. “Dance?” he asked slowly.
I nodded because further words weren’t necessary. He was slowly simmering to a boiling point, and I needed to let him take it in as slowly as possible.
He sighed, running a hand over his face as if to ease his irritation. “When are you going to drop this? We’ve been over this more times than I can count, Juliana. Ballet was just a pastime your mother enrolled you in. It was never meant to be a life goal.” He mumbled something incoherent under his breath, then continued, “You haven’t even danced in years. Do you think it’s something you can just jump back into?”
“I minored in dance, Dad. I’ve even had a few small parts in the theater district in the last few years. I can do this, Dad. It’s what I want.”
He stared at me quietly, the silence stretching so long I began to shift nervously in my seat. Finally, he edged forward in his seat, elbows braced on the tabletop as he hissed, “So you did this behind my back? You’ve planned this all along, haven’t you? Moving halfway across the country so I wouldn’t know what you were up to.”
“No. I didn’t intend for things to end this way. The plan was always to come back home. It’s just I’ve been so happy lately,and Devlin said—”
“Devlin said?” He sat back abruptly, glaring at me as if everything was beginning to make sense. In hindsight, I should’ve never mentioned Devlin in this conversation, but the damage was already done.
“I knew that man was manipulating you. Are you staying here to be with him?”
“No. If I wanted to go to Chicago, Devlin would come.”
“What? Who the fuck is this guy, Juliana? Give me his name. I’ll have Nicholas look him up.”
“No!”
He raised an eyebrow at my outburst, and I visibly shrank into my seat. Lowering my voice, I continued, “I’m not a child anymore. This was my decision. I don’t need you looking up my boyfriend and trying to find reasons to push us apart.”
“He just went from friend half an hour ago, and now he’s your boyfriend. I don’t appreciate your dishonesty, Juliana. How long have you been with this… Devlin character?” His tone was unreasonably calm, and he spoke Devlin’s name like it was bitter on his tongue.