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“Maria! Did your mother not teach you to never look a gift horse in the mouth?”
“A bad lesson, if I had. What if the gift horse is Trojan?”
Grandmother started up in her croaky singing voice. “Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow?”
I glowered at her. My grandmother favored the nursery rhyme since I was a stubborn child, and had kept it up into my stubborn adulthood. “It grows quite well, thank you very much.”
She returned my glare. She wouldn’t relent until I did. Who was the contrary one, really?
I sighed. “With silver bells, and cockle shells, and pretty maids all in a row.”
Grandmother nodded, satisfied.
My mom surprised me by speaking up. “I’m with your Grandmother, Ria. Don’t go prodding around with something like this. Let’s count our blessings and get on with our lives.”
I was silent. It was my mom’s bills, so she really had the final say. But, unlike my mother and grandmother, it would take a tremendous force of effort.
“Come here, daughter.” My mom held her arms open wide and beckoned me over to her bedside, and I allowed myself to be wrapped up in her embrace. “This is good news for all of us. Now you can relax.”
Unfortunately, I could not. Over the next few days, similar letters started arriving from my various credit card companies, loans, even my student loans. I didn’t even know it was legal to pay off someone else’s debt without permission – in fact, I doubted it was.
Now that all the debts were linked back to me, I knew it was personal. And I knew one of the Brock brothers was the culprit. It was the motive here I was unsure about – whether this was Apollo or Forest. I was a bit tired of being caught in the middle of their drama, actually.
And now Forest had shown me his nasty side. I'd vowed over the days following my interrogation to never trust a billionaire, despite any good intentions they may have, or how handsome they may be, or how suddenly vulnerable their eyes look during a tarot card reading. Or how undone they came when they fucked me. Or how they looked at me like I was something precious, dangerous, holy.
Shit.
Despite not wanting to get involved, when a letter turned up notifying me that a phone contract payment I’d missed five years ago and had been in collection since had been paid off, I decided it was the final straw.
I took the two buses and Subway ride to Forest’s offices, fuming and muttering fake curses under my breath all the way.
I paused briefly when I arrived at the front desk and saw my new friend Jenni was there. “Oh hi, Jenni!”
“Ria. Your hair looks great as always.” She smiled.
I smiled back. Then I dropped my smile and pounded my hand on the desk. “I demand to speak to your employer.”
“To... Mr Brock?”
“Yes. To Mr Brock.”
“I’m afraid he doesn’t take walk-up appointments...”
“Oh, Jenni. You’re too good at your job. Does Forest ever monitor the CCTV from the top of his ivory tower?”
It wasn’t as if I was asking her to betray company secrets, but she spoke in a hushed voice anyway. “Mr Brock certainly has the capability of doing so. The system is centralized.”
I had no idea what the last sentence meant, but it was good enough for me. I looked up at the high walls and ceiling and searched around for the nearest camera, sliding my phone out of my pocket. I dialed Forest’s number.
When it started ringing, I stuck my middle finger up at the camera and stood there resolutely as the dialing tone eventually switched to voicemail.
But I didn’t move. I was going to wait as long as it took. I called again. And again, and again.
Jenni was looking nervously over at me from her desk. I gave her a quick wink then resumed my scowling at the camera. At some point I knew she’d have to throw me out of the building. I appreciated that she was giving me a bit of time before doing so.
Eventually, the phone on Jenni’s desk rang. I glanced over.
Jenni had gone pale. “Y-yes. Yes, of course, sir. No problem at all.”
