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Stephanie's eyes widened as her father shouted at her. She could hardly believe what she was hearing, and fromher own flesh and blood, at that.
"You are a *liar*, Stephanie Marie! You made up that entire story you told your mother!"
Linda made a move closer toward Vince, but he silenced her with a wave of his hand and a look.
"How can you stand there and say that, Daddy?" the brunette cried.
"Because it's not true!" Vince snapped. "It's all *lies*! Lies you told to try and get out of your responsibilities!"
"No!" Stephanie screamed. By now, tears of anger and frustration were beginning to well up in her eyes. "'Responsibilities'?! Daddy, you're treating me like I did something wrong! You're acting like I did something wrong against *you*!"
"She's right, Vince!" Linda managed to cut in. "*She* is the one who got hurt, not you! And certainly not that bastard Paul Levesque!"
"You shut up!" the man snapped at his wife, and the woman's blue eyes widened in shock.
Stephanie, however, wouldn't stand for it anymore.
"Damn it, Daddy!" she cried, leaping up out of the bed despite her pain and exhaustion. "Stop yelling at Mom! Stop talking down to her! And open your eyes! Paul is nothing but a rotten, abusive jerk!" She ignored the tears she finally felt rolling down her cheeks as she continued. "He raped me! And I won't marry an abuser or a rapist! I *won't*! Sean... I need to be with Sean." She broke into sobs then, her entire body wracked with them.
Linda's heart went out to her daughter, but Vince was not quite as sympathetic. He glared as his wife went to the brunette's side, embracing the young woman.
"You are not going to see Sean O'Haire again..."
Stephanie raised her head from her mother's shoulder, her blue eyes still teary. She glared at the man she'd called Daddy her entire life, her entire being filled with loathing. Yes, Vince McMahon was her father, but he didn't *own* her! He was not her keeper! He wasn't the god of the entire universe! Yet, apparently *he* thought otherwise.
"You don't own me!" she yelled, surprising even herself. She'd never raised her voice to Vince in all her life - not even when she'd known him to be in the wrong. He'd always been the type of father who didn't allow that sort of thing. But she didn't care anymore... He'd pushed her over the edge in the way he spoke about Sean, and about Paul. He didn't know a damn thing about either one of those men.
"Don't you take that tone with *me*, young lady!" Vince snapped. His face was actually red from anger at her outburst. "You are not going to fill my head with lies simply because you had an affair with another man while you're engaged." He shook his head. "Do you realize how worried Paul is about you? He called me earlier..."
Stephanie shook her head, her eyes meeting her mother's. Both were silent with feelings of horror until the brunette spoke again.
"He's a liar... He beat me! He beat me and then he-"
"Stop your lying, you ungrateful little bitch!" the man shouted. He scowled at Stephanie, and the brunette flinched. It was then that she realized for certain one thing... She was not going to get *anywhere* with her father.
The brunette somehow managed not to cry anymore as she squared her shoulders.
"All of this nonsense will come to an end tomorrow," Vince said, his lip arching in an almost taunting sneer. "No Mercy... Our I Quit match."
The expression on the man's face caused a chill to creep up Stephanie's spine.