Page 19 of Fight Or Flight

“You are going to get it.” Speeler was more adamant now. He stabbed a stubby finger at the folder on the table. “This will isironclad. Elizabeth and I wrote it together ten years ago. The only amendment was when she severed off the pond property. It’s legally binding. My only fear is that if you give them reason to believe they can win, they might contest. And they have the means for a lengthy court battle.”

“Wait,” Natalie said, sitting up in her seat. “Did you say ten years ago? She wrote this will before Robert died?”

“That’s right. It was just after you left.”

Natalie sank back into her chair, letting that sink in. “What about Anne? And . . . Emily?”

Speeler’s bushy brows rose. “She left them out.”

“Completely?” Natalie asked.

“Yes.”

The room fell silent as Natalie processed what she was hearing, trying to come to terms with Elizabeth cutting her third granddaughter from her will. She looked over at Ethan and Chelsea, and they seemed to be doing the same.

Then she remembered her cab, and her suitcase, and her flight. She stood up from the table. “All right. I gotta go.”

“Wait. There’s still the matter of Mi and Mi.”

“Meeanmee?” Natalie asked, racking her brain to figure out what he was talking about. “What the hell is meeanmee?”

“Mi and Mi,” he annunciated slowly. “And it’s not what. It’s who.”

Natalie leaned forward and raised her voice to a yell. “Start making sense, or I’m gone.”

“Mi and Mi are Elizabeth’s cats. She wanted one cat named Mimi, but ended up with two, so she named them Mi and Mi. She left them to you.”

“Cats?”

“Yes. Cats.”

Natalie fell back into her chair, astonished. Then a laugh bubbled up. “Is this some kind of joke?”

“Of course not.”

“Okay, sure,” she said, the laughter coming stronger now. “I’ll just toss them in my suitcase.”

“I figured you wouldn’t need a suitcase anymore.”

“Did you think I was going to stay? In that house? Is that what Elizabeth thought?”

“Well, she hoped you would, yes.”

Natalie stared at the man for a moment, telling herself to calm down. She was about to yell at him and storm off when Ethan cleared his throat.

“Why don’t you just take the cats home with you?”

“I don’t have a home.”

He blinked. Then again. “Wait, are you homeless?”

She tipped her chin up. “I’m currently without a permanent address.”

Ethan’s eyes scrunched up, as if he was looking at the most clueless person he’d ever seen. “Is that different?”

Natalie rolled her eyes. The last thing she needed was judgment from this guy, with his sparking eyes and doctorate degree. Ugh. She stepped behind her chair and pushed it in. “Send the cats to a shelter or something,” she said. “And give my share of the property to Chelsea. Good luck with the Monroes. You’re going to need it.”

She started walking toward the door.

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