Page 9 of Wreck Me

“Uh…”

Ginny pressed her hand against her sister’s shoulder. “You do, I'm sure. It was a brunch I think, and I asked what would happen if a person didn’t pay their property tax bill. You said they could get major fines and eventually lose their house, so…” She gave Nico a coquettish shrug for no apparent reason other than to add to his torture. “…I started paying them.”

Split flew from Nico’s mouth as he rounded on Monique. “You advised her to pay the property taxes onmyhouse?”

It was Monique’s turn to blink like an epileptic butterfly. “I told her that a hypothetical person should pay hypothetical taxes on a hypothetical property.” Under her breath, she muttered angrily, “I hate this day.”

The squatter rubbed her hands together with obvious glee. “So, it’s mine?”

“I have one more question,” Monique said. “Did you also pay the utility bills – electricity, water?”

Ginny shrugged. “Well, yes. If I didn’t, they went away.”

Nico’s mouth opened in feigned dismay. “What? You had to pay for something you use? What capitalist cruelty is this?”

Monique gave them each disapproving side-eye. “You two are oil and water.” She leaned in towards Nico. “I’ll obviously go over all this with co-counsel but, at first blush, she appears to have a solid claim.”

“Why didn’t you stop her?” Nico said, his face shifting from red to purple.

“I understand you’re upset, but that’s not a reasonable question. First, this property was not, as I mentioned on the phone, placed within our legal purview. There is no indication that either you or your brother ever arranged for, or even verbally requested, that we keep an eye on it. Second, I, like you, had no idea she was living here. If I had, I promise I would have advised you of it immediately.”

“What?” Ginny said to her sister. “Youareon his side!”

Monique interlaced her fingers together in a nervous motion, her red nails blurring in Nico’s vision. Or maybe he was just seeing red. “Ginny, I couldn’t knowingly let a client lose a property to my sister. I’m sure you understand that. Or will. Or should. At some level.”

“So, what happens now?” he growled.

“Now that we have a better sense of the facts, we should probably retreat to our respective legal corners.”

Nico shook his head. “No. I need a solution.” He stemmed the tsunami of swear words threatening to escape his lips, then looked straight at Ginny. “I can’t believe I'm doing this, but one hundred thousand and you walk?”

Ginny looked offended at the suggestion. “No way.”

“Two hundred.”

“No.”

“Three. Hundred.”

“No. And this is pointless. I’ve touched every part of this house from the chimney to the foundation. And it’s not just the elbow grease and materials. You mocked me when I tried toexplain it to you, but the moment I stepped into it, the place did speak to me. This house belongs to me, heart and soul, and no amount of money is going to separate me from it. No amount.”

Nico sighed. “A million dollars,” he said flatly.

Monique gasped. She sent a pointed, eyes-wide look toward her sister, obviously wanting her to take the offer.

“No amount,” Ginny said simply. “And if you two don’t mind, it’s lunch time. There’s a jar of peanut butter in the kitchen with my name on it.”

A stunned Nico watched as a woman who’d just turned down a million dollars spun on the soles of her faded Ked shoes, bounced lightly up steps he had walked up countless times in his youth, and disappeared into his childhood home to eat peanut butter. The door creaked on its hinge before closing with a click.

Nico let out a pent-up groan. “The bulldozers are scheduled to come the day after tomorrow!”

“Then I’m afraid you must cancel them. If she’s in that house, you can’t touch it.”

A lightbulb flicked on in the dark recess that was Nico’s current state of mind. “What if she leaves the property? Bulldozers make quick work.”

“I think she’d have to leave of her own accord, but it could give you a window to do…what you need to do. You’d end up paying her significant damages, but they’d likely be less than the million you’ve just offered.”

“You wouldn’t tip her off?”

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