Chapter 4: The Questioning

The moment Tina stepped through the front door, she froze.

Her father was standing in the middle of the living room. The lights were on. His arms were folded tightly across his chest, and his expression was a mixture of anger and worry.

“Tina,” he said slowly. “Who brought you home?”

Her stomach dropped. She had hoped he would already be in bed. She had hoped to slip inside quietly and breathe before facing him. But Pastor Hendrix was never a man who slept easily when he felt out of control.

“I asked you a question,” he repeated.

Tina shut the door carefully behind her. She could still feel the warmth of Nicholas’s car on her skin. Her heartbeat was uneven.

“My car broke down,” she said. “A man stopped to help me. He gave me a ride home.”

Her father’s eyes narrowed. “A man. What man?”

“I do not know him,” she replied. “He just stopped when he saw my hazard lights. I had no service. I could not call anyone.”

“Do not lie to me,” he snapped.

“I am not lying,” Tina whispered, slightly trembling. “I could not call you. The phone had no network.”

Her father stepped closer, his voice low and simmering. “I called you ten times. Ten, Tina. You did not answer once. Do you know what that did to me? Do you know how it feels to think something has happened to your child?”

Guilt stung her immediately. Her voice softened even more. “I am sorry. I was scared too. I would never ignore your calls. I just had no signal.”

He took a slow breath, but his anger did not disappear.

“Why were you out this late?” he asked.

“I went to help Naomi with her assignment,” she explained. “I did not plan for the car to break down.”

“You should not have been on that road at this hour,” he said. “You know better.”

“I know,” she whispered. “But I was trying to help her.”

Her father pressed his palm against his forehead as if trying to steady himself. “And instead you put yourself in danger. You got into the car of a stranger.” His eyes lifted sharply. “Do you hear how reckless that sounds?”

Tina swallowed hard. She had expected anger, but not this level of intensity. Yet there was something else in his expression too. Fear. The kind he never admitted.

“I did not want to,” she said quietly. “But I could not stay on that road alone. He only helped with the car and brought me home. That is all.”

Pastor Hendrix studied her carefully. Every shift in her voice. Every flicker in her eyes. Tina held her breath, hoping he would believe her.

Finally, he spoke again. “Did he ask you anything? Did he try to follow you? Did he look suspicious?”

“No,” she said quickly. “He was respectful. He was... not dangerous.” she quickly finished.

“You cannot know that,” he warned. “You do not know people. You do not know the world. It is not your place to judge who is safe and who is not.”

Tina lowered her gaze. She wanted to say that she felt safe with Nicholas. That there had been no threat in his voice or movements. But her words wouldn't come out. It was like something inside her kept those words locked away. Something she could not explain.

Her father took a step back and let out a long breath.

“I am glad you are home,” he said finally. “But do not trust so easily. The world is not kind. People are not always who they pretend to be.”

Tina nodded lightly. “I understand.”

“Good.” His voice softened only slightly. “Go to your room. And next time, do not go anywhere without telling me first.”

“Yes, Daddy.”

She moved past him, her steps quiet on the stairs. But as she reached the top, she felt his eyes still on her. Watching. Searching. Trying to understand what he could not see.

She entered her room and closed the door gently.

Only then did she let out the breath she had been holding.

She leaned against the door, heart pounding with the leftover fear of the road, and the tension of her father's anger.

The memory of Nicholas’s voice.

The way he had looked at her.

The strange warmth she had felt in her chest.

This was all new to her.

She walked to her window and looked at the dark street outside with a longing like all the nights before. She wondered what the world out there actually felt like. She wanted to experience it for herself and not only agree on what people told her about it.

Her father’s warning echoed faintly.

Do not trust too easily.

But Tina knew what she had felt. It was not fear. It was something new and far more confusing and it would not let her sleep.

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