Page 25 of Claiming His Property

“Hello, Skylar!” she calls out. I hear her high-heeled feet click-clacking across the floor as she approaches. “I thought I’d come visit you at work.”

I spin in my chair and force a smile that hurts my cheeks when I make it.

“Oh hey, Aunt Beatrice.”

Misty flashes me a glance and mouths, This is her? I discretely nod back.

Beatrice glances around the parlor and puffs air from her lips. “Why do people cover themselves in ink like they’re tapestries? I’ll never understand it.”

“Some people like it,” Misty chimes in, getting Beatrice’s attention.

Yeah, give it to her!

“And you are?”

“I’m Misty. I work here. Sky is my apprentice.”

Beatrice nods. Her eyes move across Misty’s tattoos, clearly unimpressed.

“Well, Misty, if you don’t mind, I’d like a word with my niece.”

Misty glances at me as if to say she’ll stick around to back me up if I need it. But I nod to let her know I’ll be okay, and she gets up to go over to Brian’s station. Beatrice takes her seat and stares daggers at me.

There’s a long, uncomfortable silence before she actually speaks.

“I know about you and Cade.”

“Wh–what about us?”

“Did you know he’s seen me naked?” she asks. This stops me in my tracks. Beatrice may be a cold-hearted bitch, but I’ve never known her to be a liar.

Even so, this is something I just can’t stomach.

“Bullshit.”

“Oh, it’s quite true.” She smiles. “He’s been trying to seduce me for weeks. I knew all he wanted was for me to invest in his business, of course. I saw right through him and turned him down, so now he’s going for you. He thinks he can get to me through you.”

My heart is racing. I can already feel beads of sweat on my brow and wipe them away with the back of my hand.

“Cade would never–”

“Oh come now, Skylar. You can’t be that naïve. He’s a man. Men love using women. Whether it’s for sex or money or both. And Cade believes you’ll give him both.”

I don’t want to believe it. I can’t. The pain in my heart is simply too much.

“No,” I reply firmly. “I already told him you don’t share with me.”

“And I told him that if you were a good little girl who went and got married, that I might reconsider,” she says, smiling like a snake. “So he knows where his bread is buttered. Didn’t he mention to you he wanted to expand his business with investment money?”

Our conversation from last night comes rushing back to me.

It can’t be.

Beatrice doesn’t even have to wait for my respond. It’s written all over my face.

“That’s okay, dear,” she says, patting me on the knee. “We all have to experience our first betrayal. I just thought I would let you know before you got in too deep with him.”

All I can do is stare blankly as she walks to the door and lets herself out.

---