My Family Wants Me Gone, I Take Their Luck With Me novel · Chapter 16 of 32
Chapter 16: Stay
I put my hand over the folder on the counter without thinking.
"What happens next, Clarissa?" I said.
"You come home." She said it like she was reading me a menu. "Tomorrow. You go to Dad's room with flowers. You post a video saying you were confused and you're getting help. And you stay."
"Why would I do that?"
"Because Damon needs the waterfront project to look like a win."
"The pier is the waterfront project. You know how fast Damon can make a pier disappear."
"He has seventy-seven days of paperwork to get through first."
"Paperwork." She laughed. "Old piers catch fire all the time, Noelle. Old wiring. Old boards. Nobody's surprised."
I kept my voice exactly where it was.
"Are you threatening to burn down a pier with a child living on it?"
"I'm not threatening anything. I'm telling you old piers are dangerous. I'd hate for the little girl's carousel to get hurt."
There was a pause. When she spoke again, the sugar was gone.
"The funny part is, you never knew what you were."
"And you did."
"I figured it out in a week. Mom told me about the cancer. Dad told me about the bank. Saffron told me about her first audition." She was enjoying herself. "Everybody you ever loved got rich, Noelle. And you just let them take it. You never kept a dime of it for yourself."
"So you decided to keep it for me."
"I decided you didn't deserve it." The chair stopped. "Come home, and everything goes back to how it was. Damon gets his stock. Dad gets his liver. I get my wedding."
"And me?"
"You get to be useful. That's what you're for."
I looked at Arlo.
He was white around the mouth. His scarred hand was a fist.
Keep reading free with an account. Start My Family Wants Me Gone, I Take Their Luck With Me from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.
← Chapter 15 · All chapters · Chapter 17 →
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend