Chapter 5
The lock clicked again when my father tried the handle.
I heard his knuckles hit the wood twice, not hard, just steady. Jonah didn't move. He stood with his back to the door, his jacket still buttoned, his hands at his sides like he was posing for a photo no one was taking.
"Elise," my dad said through the door. "You in there?"
I couldn't get air fast enough to answer. Jonah looked at me and lifted his chin a fraction. That was his tell. When he wanted quiet, he didn't say shush. He just waited.
I stayed where I was on the edge of the little vanity bench. The light in the dressing suite was too bright, white bulbs around the mirror, the same color as the bruises starting to show on my shoulder. The floor was carpet here, not marble, but I could still feel the grit under my bare feet from the ballroom. I hadn't wiped it off.
Jonah finally spoke, but not to my dad. To me.
"You are nothing without me," he said. His voice was low and even, like he was reminding me of a name I kept forgetting. He said it the same way he'd said it out on the floor, only now there was no crowd to perform for. "Do you understand what that means?"
He took a step closer to the mirror and straightened his pocket square. He watched me in the reflection instead of turning around.
"It means the account is in my name," he said. "The lease is in my name. Every invite with your name on it came because you were with me. You walk out that door in that dress, you walk out with nothing."
He said it plain, three things, like he was reading a list he'd already prepared. Account. Lease. Invite list. The suite felt smaller with each one.
My phone was on the vanity where I'd left it before the gala. The screen was lit up with missed notifications, but I didn't remember putting it there. I reached for it because I needed to do something with my hands.
My dad knocked again. "Elise, answer me. Is that door locked?"
Jonah didn't answer him. He just watched me pick up the phone. His mouth twitched.
I opened my banking app. I knew the password by muscle memory. The checking account we used for everything loaded slow on the mansion wifi. When it came up, the balance was $14.22. Under it, a line said joint access removed. Timestamped ten minutes ago. Right when I was still on the floor.
I swiped to the ride app. I had one saved card. It flashed declined. I tried to request anyway and it asked me to update payment before it would even search for a car. I stared at that screen until the brightness dimmed.
"No ride," I said. It came out quieter than I meant. "I have no ride."
Jonah nodded like I'd finally answered his question correctly. "You have everything here," he said. "You just need to stop making scenes."
I set the phone down. My hand was shaking enough that the case rattled against the glass. In the mirror, I watched the red mark on my shoulder catch the light. I pulled the strap of my dress up half an inch. It didn't cover it.
On the other side of the door, my dad had stopped knocking. I heard him shift his weight, then his voice came closer, like he'd leaned his forehead near the wood.
"Elise, listen to me," he said. "My truck's right outside the kitchen entrance. Keys are in it. I have the apartment over the shop. It's clean. It's warm. Couch makes a bed. No one there will ask you anything tonight."
He said it fast but calm, the way he talked when he was trying to sell a part to someone who was nervous about the price. Plain words. Truck. Apartment. Couch. He wasn't begging me to come. He was just laying out what was real.
"It's ten minutes away," he added. "We can just sit in the parking lot if you want. You don't have to decide anything else tonight."
Jonah exhaled through his nose. He finally turned from the mirror to face the door.
"She's not going anywhere," he said loud enough for my dad to hear. He didn't unlock it. He put his hand flat on the door, palm out, like he was holding it shut without needing the key. "She knows what's best for her."
May you like
He looked back at me after he said it. He believed it. I could see it in how his shoulders dropped a little, how sure he was that the numbers on my phone would do what his grip couldn't.
I didn't say yes to my dad. I didn't say no. I just sat on the bench with my phone dark in my lap, the lock still turned, Jonah standing between me and the only way out, and waited to see if my dad would walk away.
