Page 90 of Outlier
My head started spinning, and my throat closed over.
Mum watched with a smug smile on her face, as if reveling in how much she was upsetting me.
“How utterly ridiculous.”
I startled at Margot’s loud, crisp voice, and turned to see her swan into the kitchen, her boots clipping loudly across the tiles.
“Janet, Rebecca, as always,nota pleasure. I see your housekeeping skills haven’t improved over the years.”
Mum’s back snapped straight as she glared across the kitchen.
Rebecca was eyeing Margot warily as Margot drew up by my side.
“Vicky, darling,” Margot said. “What on earth are you doing here with these people?”
“I-I had to?—”
“No, you did nothave to. I’m sorry that I ever implied that you should maintain contact with your biological mother.”
“You’ve no bloody right to be here!” Mum shouted. “Get out of my house!”
Margot turned to Mum, drawing herself up to her full height and readjusting her handbag on her shoulder. The temperature in the room seemed to drop a few degrees.
“Yourhouse?” Margot asked, and I watched with fascination as Mum’s face paled. “This is your house, is it?”
There was a beat of silence. Margot’s icy glare was focused on Mum, who broke first and looked away.
“This house is part of the Buckingham Estate, as is the land surrounding it. It has been part of the Buckingham Estate for over five hundred years. Mysonowns this house.”
“You fucking aristocrats own this whole bloody country,” snapped Mum, her face reddening with fury.
Margot smiled and nodded her agreement. “I agree. At least seventy-five per cent of it, so yes, the vast majority.” Her voice lowered then, and her smile fell. “Do you think a family that’s kept hold of a fortune as huge as ours has done so without a certain degree of ruthlessness?” Her voice dropped again to a low, lethal whisper. “Do you think a family like that lets people like you fuck with its members? Lets people put their hands on them?”
Mum looked like she was going to throw up. “Are you threatening me?” she asked in a shaky voice.
Margot flashed a smile that was more like a baring of teeth, and Mum flinched.
“Absolutely not. I don’t make threats: I state facts. You will be out of this house by the end of the month. You willneverspeak to Vicky again or attempt any form of contact. I’ve already spoken to your soon-to-beex-husband, who was never at peace with this arrangement anyway, and he is in full agreement about finding alternative living arrangements. Although I expect that his will be separate from yours, given how disgusted he is at your treatment of Vicky, and how angry he is to find out how badly you’ve been physically, emotionally, and financially abusing your daughter for all these years.”
“Y-y-you can’t do this,” Mum stuttered.
“My family has been doing whatever the hell it wants for over five hundred years. Rest assured, I can and will do this. Rightly or wrongly, I have the support of the courts, the local police, and the judiciary. I have an army of lawyers at my disposal, and a team of very good private investigators who have already dug up enough dirt on you and your daughter to bury you.”
“This isn’t your fight, Margot,” Mum hissed. “She’s not even your daughter. She’s your husband’sbastard—the result of him shagging me when he got bored with you. Why do you care?”
“My husband was an unfeeling shit. You’re a disgusting excuse for a human being. But Vicky is, and always has been, absolutely wonderful. She’s a sister to my children by blood, and I claim her as my daughter by choice.”
“That doesn’t make any sense!” Mum said, her voice rising. “You should hate Vicky. You should?—”
“If you think I should hate your daughter, why did you drop her off when she was six years old at my house?”
“Vicky was a bloody nightmare,” snapped Mum.
“She didn’t seem like a nightmare to me,” Margot returned. “In fact, I think Vicky may have been the lowest maintenance child that I had ever encountered. Why on earth would you bring her to us without warning? Why didn’t you try to look after your own child? What kind of unfeeling monster would––”
“She wouldn’t stop bloody screaming, okay!” Mum shouted, and I took a step back.
“What are you—?” Margot started, but Mum cut her off.
