Chapter 14 - The Price of a Crown
"What are you doing here?" Natalie whispered, her voice cracking like dry autumn twigs.
She didn't stand up.
She couldn't.
Her knees were trapped beneath the wobbly table, and her hands were clamped tightly around a chipped ceramic coffee mug.
"I was in the neighborhood," I said calmly, stepping across the worn linoleum floor and closing the door behind me.
"Checking on my investments."
"You own this dump?" she asked, her voice dripping with a bitter, pathetic sarcasm that lacked any real teeth.
"Apex Industrial Dynamics owns the entire block," I replied, leaning my hip against the edge of the kitchen counter.
"We bought the mortgage portfolio from the regional bank last Tuesday."
"Which means I am technically your landlord."
"And your rent is seventy-two hours overdue."
Natalie slammed her coffee mug down onto the laminate table, sending brown liquid splashing across her collection notices.
"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" she spat, her chest heaving as she glared up at me with venomous hatred.
"You flew all the way from Montana just to watch me drown in this rat-infested shithole!"
"You think you're some kind of queen because you managed to claw your way out of the mud!"
"You left us with nothing!"
"You took our house, you ruined Scott's career, and you treat Mom and Dad like stray dogs!"
I walked slowly toward the table, my heels clicking sharply against the cheap flooring.
I stopped two feet away from her, looking down into her terrified, miserable face with absolute detachment.
"Natalie, let's get one thing straight," I said, my voice dropping into a low, terrifyingly calm register.
"I didn't ruin Scott's career."
"Scott ruined his career by embezzling four hundred thousand dollars from municipal transit contracts to fund his country club lifestyle."
"I simply handed the federal investigators the ledger he was too arrogant to shred."
"And I didn't take your house."
"Your house was foreclosed because you couldn't afford the property taxes on a lifestyle built entirely on stolen paper."
"As for Mom and Dad, I gave them a roof when they deserved to be sleeping under a bridge."
"You're a monster," she hissed, tears of pure rage finally spilling over her lower eyelids.
"A cold, unfeeling monster."
May you like
"Maybe I am," I whispered, leaning down so my face was inches from hers.
"And you built me every single brick of this personality."
