Chapter 6: Two Million

I picked up the check and read the number twice.

Two million dollars.

It was more money than my father had earned in his life.

It would buy a house, a lawyer, and a ticket anywhere I wanted to go.

"Willa," Rowan said, very quietly.

"I'm thinking."

Tobias folded his hands.

"Think quickly," he said. "The offer lapses at noon."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why would you pay two million for me to leave?"

For a moment his easy smile slipped.

"My cousin needs a real marriage to hold his seat," he said. "A marriage to the maid will not look real to the board."

"It looks like a stunt."

"So you'd pay to make it stop."

"I'd pay to save everyone embarrassment."

"Everyone," I said. "Meaning you."

I walked around the table and stood in front of him.

He was a head taller than me, and he smelled of expensive soap.

"You've never carried your own coat in your life," I said. "You never carried anything. Do you know what I carried?"

"I'm sure you'll tell me."

"Six years of dishes. A dead mother's name. My father's funeral, alone."

I took the cashier's check in both hands.

I tore it in half.

Then I tore it again.

The pieces fluttered onto his shoes.

"I am not for sale to you," I said. "I'm not for sale to anyone."

The butler coughed into his fist.

Mrs. Verran put her cup down with a very small smile.

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