The Necklace They Gave Me Last novel · Chapter 18 of 24

Chapter 18: The Founders' Dinner

The Founders' Dinner was held in the great hall, under every chandelier my mother had ever loved.

Sixty guests sat at long tables.

The board sat at the head table, and the old man who taught me chess had saved me a chair beside him.

I wore my black dress and the green stone in its leaves of gold.

Dermot stood against the back wall in a dark suit, and I could feel him there without turning around.

My father was still in the hospital, and I had told him to stay.

Pauline came in last.

She wore grey silk and her pearls, and a lawyer walked half a step behind her with a folder under his arm.

Nobody had stopped her at the door.

I had told the staff not to.

She crossed the hall with her chin up, and every head turned to watch.

She reached the head table and rested her fingertips on the back of a chair.

"Before the toast," she said, "may I say something to our friends?"

I nodded.

"Thank you, darling."

She turned to the room, with her kind face and her gentle voice.

"I have loved Susannah since she was fourteen," she said. "I have prayed she would come home. But I cannot let this family be ruined by a young woman who is not well."

A murmur ran down the tables.

Phones came up, one after another, sixty of them.

I let them.

"She stood on the lawn on Legacy Day and renounced us," Pauline said. "She did it in writing, the Thursday before, in her own hand."

The lawyer opened the folder and passed her a sheet.

She read it aloud.

"I renounce the trust, the house, and any claim to the founder's necklace. I will not return to the family. Susannah Sterrett."

She laid it on the table in front of the board.

"The claim she has made since is a fraud on this company," Pauline said. "She is wearing a piece she gave up in writing."

Dorian's empty chair stood at the end of the second table.

← Chapter 17 · All chapters · Chapter 19 →

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