Jeffrey paused mid-motion, his hand hanging in the air, as he looked at Skylar. The expression on her face was not one he had seen in a long time. She no longer cowered before him or sought his approval. Instead, there was a calm defiance in her eyes, a sharp contrast to the girl who once desperately tried to win his affection.
The realization hit him hard. Skylar wasn’t the same.
For a moment, the rage that had been bubbling inside him faltered. He lowered his hand slowly, but the bitterness still twisted in his chest. “You’ve changed, Skye. You’ve become someone I don’t even recognize anymore,” he muttered, his voice tinged with frustration and regret.
Skylar watched him carefully, her posture firm. “I haven’t changed. I’ve just stopped pretending,” she replied, her voice steady. “I don’t need your approval, Jeffrey. Not now, not ever.”
Maisy stood quietly to the side, her lips pressed into a thin line. She had expected Skylar to back down, to beg for forgiveness like she used to. But instead, Skylar’s words cut through the tension like a knife. It was a side of her that Maisy hadn’t seen before, and it unsettled her.
“Don’t think you can just walk away from everything, Skylar,” Jeffrey said, his voice laced with anger once again. “You’re still my daughter. Whether you like it or not, you have responsibilities to the Williams family.”
Skylar shook her head, her expression unwavering. “No, I don’t. You may have been my father by blood, but you’ve never been a father to me. Not once. You abandoned me long before I ever left.” She took a step back, the weight of her words hanging in the air between them.
Jeffrey’s face flushed with indignation. “You ungrateful—”
“No, I’m just not going to let you manipulate me anymore,” Skylar cut him off, her voice cold and unyielding. “I’ve been manipulated my whole life, but not anymore. You don’t get to control me.”
Maisy’s eyes darted from her father to Skylar, confusion swirling in her mind. The Skylar standing before her was not the same girl she had once known. This was someone different—someone stronger, more confident. And it made her uneasy.
“So, you think you can just cut us out of your life?” Maisy asked, trying to regain some semblance of control. “You think you’re better than us now? What about everything we’ve done for you? What about your family?”
Skylar’s lips curled into a small, almost bitter smile. “You’ve done nothing for me. You’ve only ever done things for yourselves. I’m not interested in being part of your fake family anymore.”
Jeffrey’s patience finally snapped. He stepped toward Skylar, his anger flaring once again. “You think you’re so much better than us now? You’re nothing without us!”
Skylar’s eyes hardened as she faced him. “I don’t need anything from you. Not your pity, not your ‘help,’ nothing.”
For a long moment, the two stood there in silence, the air thick with tension. Skylar’s words seemed to have hit harder than she expected. She could see the flicker of doubt in Jeffrey’s eyes, the way his grip tightened on his phone, the subtle tremor in his hands. For a moment, she almost felt pity for him. Almost.
But then, she remembered everything—the years of disappointment, the silent nights, the lies, the manipulation—and the pity disappeared.
“I’m done here,” she said, her voice firm. “I’ve made my choice.”
With that, Skylar turned on her heel and walked away, her heart steady, despite the storm of emotions threatening to overtake her. She didn’t look back.
Jeffrey and Maisy stood in stunned silence, their words caught in their throats. Maisy was the first to speak, her voice softer now, but still filled with disbelief. “What just happened?” she asked, staring after Skylar.
Jeffrey’s jaw clenched as he watched Skylar leave. His emotions were a mix of anger, frustration, and something darker—something like regret. He had never expected her to stand up to him like that. The girl who used to beg for his affection had transformed into someone who no longer needed him at all.
“I don’t know,” he muttered, running a hand through his hair. “But I’m not letting her get away with this.”
Maisy watched her father, her gaze flicking back to the direction Skylar had gone. For the first time, she wasn’t sure what side she was on. The world around her felt like it was shifting in ways she didn’t understand.
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