Cassie opens her mouth to explain, but I cut in.

"Cassie didn't know."

"Obviously," Dad says, in a way that makes Cassie frown, because his cold expression tells us both, he doesn't think much of her guardianship of me.

"I waited until she left for work, so she wouldn't know," I confess, needing to protect Cassie.

"Why?" he asks, turning his dark gaze my way.

His shoulders are slumped, his legs stretched out under the table, but there's nothing relaxed about the tight way he holds himself.

"I wasn't ready."

"You weren't ready?" Dad repeats.

He stares at the wall over my head. "That's funny."

"Why?" I ask uneasily, not liking the way this conversation is going.

"Because the reason I let you come back to live with your sister was because you said you were ready."

"I know." I stare at my hands, dreading the disappointment I'll read on his face. I can't be trusted. I let everyone down.

"But you lied to me anyway?" he continues in no way willing to let this go.

Cassie stiffens. She hates the way he talks to me when he gets like this. "Cut her some slack. She's-"

"No," Dad says stopping her mid-sentence.

The harshness in the one word silences us both.

"It's her last year of high school. Her marks this year determine her entire future. If you can't keep her in school, I'll take her back to Toronto."

The ache in my stomach which has been there since I spotted Dad in Cassie's room turns to a full-out burn.

I don't want him to take me away. But with any custody issues, I'm seventeen, and to a judge, a father will trump a sister, especially a half-sister. He knows he holds all the cards, even though I suspect the last thing he wants is to have me share his downtown condo.

"I won't do it again," I blurt out.

He turns his cold gaze to me.

"You've lied to me before. Why should I believe you? In the last two years, you've missed eighty days of school."

Cassie stays quiet. She knows there's no point in reassuring him she'll make sure I go since she hasn't been able to up to this point.

In the ensuing silence, he turns back to Cassie. "Do you regret taking her on?

Cassie's mouth falls open as if she's stunned he's asked her this question in front of me. She pulls herself together.

"No," she says the word with the same force he used on her.

"Then how do we resolve this?"

"I'll contact the school and ask them to call me immediately if she misses any classes," Cassie says. "Then if she has, I'll come home and take her myself."

He considers this, his dark head bent as his gaze falls once more to his hands.

"I won't miss any more school," I repeat.

He looks up, meeting my eyes. "No, you won't. If you miss a single one, consider it your last day here. I'll send a car to get you and your sister can pack up your things and send them later."

He turns back to Cassie. "You're twenty-three. There's no legal reason I need to support you. She leaves and the cheques stop. You pay your own rent, or you move out. Your choice. Maybe that will be an incentive to take your role here more seriously."

Cassie swallows, but remains quiet.

"Dad," I say, interrupting him, "You're being unfair. Cassie works full-time and takes-"

He stops me with a lift of his hand. "You're seventeen. Act it. Stop wasting our time. Show us some respect for the sacrifices we make for you. We both work hard. All we expect from you is for you to study and go to school. Do you understand?"

I drop my head, my eyes beginning to water, knowing I'll never be able to explain to him what it's like to be me. He doesn't understand the sense of panic that overcomes me. I want to tell him he's lucky because he's a man-a hard man, who has never been forced into something he didn't want to do. He doesn't understand the triggers that take me back to that house in Eyre or how its shadowy tentacles wrap around me, keeping part of me there always.

"Do you understand?" he repeats.

My eyes pool with sadness, but there's only one answer he'll accept.

"I understand," I whisper.

[Author's Note:

What do you think of Cassie, Leila and their dad now?

Next episode: Thu at 9:15]