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The dig bounced off her, probably cushioned by the truth laced into it. “I have nothing against you.”
“Great to hear.”
“It’s just… Zach is at an important juncture in his life. I fear you might interfere with his decisions. That he’s confused and blinded by your… your…” Her eyes scraped a path from my choppy hair down to my muddy shoes, searching for one positive thing to say about me. “…cunningness, perhaps.”
I wondered how long this conversation would take. I needed to do my stretches and run a few miles before dinner.
She toyed with the simple Chanel necklace resting between her collarbones. “Look, I’m sure you’re a lovely girl, who will make someone very happy. But that someone isn’t my son.”
The cold bit into my flesh like a ravenous animal.
I arched a brow, hoping to end this before I succumbed to frostbite. “You do know Ispent the entire day cleaning his toilets, right? Not pole dancing on his Greek columns.”
“French, not Greek.” Her nostrils flared. “Nevertheless, you need to quit.”
“Maybe.” I walked around the Maybach to my Prius, tossed my backpack into the passenger seat, and opened the driver’s side. “But I need the money more.”
And all the help Zach promised would come along with it.
“I’ll write you a check.”
She slammed my door before I could slip in, plastering herself against the rusted metal. Her toned figure barely covered a fraction of it.
A ridiculous thought entered my head—how could something so small birth someone so big?
Constance stretched her arms wide, blocking me. “Name your price.”
“That’s the thing.” I folded my arms over my chest. “My integrity doesn’t come with a price tag.”
That was rich, considering what I’d done to get myself kicked out of competitive fencing, but she didn’t need to know that.
“Your integritywillcome with a price tag if it ensures my son’s happiness.” She tipped her chin up, refusing to move. “And there is nothing more important to me than his joy.”
Wow. Okay.
I’d tried to be polite, but she’d shattered my patience.
The knots in my back taunted me. I didn’t need to deal with her son’s demandsandhers, too.
For once, I wanted to be the sword, not the fencer.
“Oh, I don’t know about that.” I brought a hand to my chest, brows furrowed in mock sorrow. “I caught him in his closet after his date, crying into a bottle of champagne. Poor guy. Seems to have truly lost it. Vomited all over a brand-new Armani suit.”
The astonishment on her face practically pried her jaw off its hinges. I glanced around, wondering how Zach planned on destroying my life if his mother died of a heart attack right here.
She snapped her jaw shut. “I want you out of his house and away. Do not be ridiculous. Take the money and go.”
On cue, her driver lowered the window on our side, handing her a checkbook.
I reached into the Maybach to pet her dogs. One rested its front paws on my hand, licking my fingers and wrist. “Two million dollars.”
I didn’t know where the number came from. It seemed obscene. But it wasn’t like she didn’t have that kind of money.
I bet her freaking sneakers cost more.
“You cannot be serious.” She waved at the pup,shooing it away from me.
Apparently, it wasn’t just Zach I wasn’t good enough for.
